Haruno by Name, Hoshigaki by Blood
by writer168
Summary: Sakura was born and raised in Amegakure. Her father was an Akatsuki- but she didn't mind. She loved him for who he was and what he did didn't matter to her. He trained her, loved her, and was was the best dad she could ever ask for. Then, there came the attack. She thinks they've been killed, and they think she's been slaughtered in cold blood.
1. Lovely Emerald

Unbeknownst to everyone, Kisame Hoshigaki had always wanted to be a father. No, he didn't want a child to create a weapon or to continue his bloodline, but just for the sake of loving him or her.

When he was a part of his village, he never had any friends or had any true friendships with another person. He was something of a loner as people tended not to hang around him. Kisame himself didn't mind it, but that didn't mean he had to like it. So due to his non-existent social status, he only had two goals. He had to survive through the harshness of the shinobi lifestyle, and he had to protect his village.

Those goals carried over as the years passed. All was fine an well, that is, until he received his mission to guard the Cypher Division. Not so much the people, but the codes. And he did just that. In attempt to save his village's information, he killed five men and a woman that had done nothing but showed him her utmost kindness. But Kisame soon discovered that it had all been a ruse. The person who assigned him this very mission, Fuguki Suikazan, had been leaking Kirigakure's valuable information to well-known enemies.

Kisame took Samehada for himself, unintentionally became a member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, defected from the village he loved from the bottom of his heart, earned his title as the Monster of the Mist, and took refuge in Amegakure.

It didn't take any effort to blend into Amegakure. The place was already filled with rogues and missing-nin, so no one minded another person joining their ever-rainy village. Kisame was able to snag a small apartment towards the south side on the outskirts of the market district.

He felt lost and didn't know what to do with his life. Was he to stay a rogue forever? His worries soon dissipated when his doorbell rang and a petite red-head greeted him out in the hallway. She smiled at him brightly and held out a plate of slightly burnt white chocolate chip cookies.

"Hello! My name's Saki Otsuka and I live right across from you!"

Saki was a civilian nurse at Amegakure General Hospital. She was a sweet little thing who always wore a wide smile. If the smile didn't reach her lips, it shone from her mint green eyes.

Her and Kisame married two years later.

* * *

><p>"Akatsuki?" Kisame repeated. The woman sitting across from him gave a small nod.<p>

"Yes. Our leader wants you to join our ranks, Hoshigaki-san. We do not ask for much. The only difference between being a standard Amegakure shinobi and an Akatsuki member is that you'll be taking completely different orders from that of your peers. We'll give you some time to consider our offer, but remember- very, very, very few people have this opportunity."

The woman stood up and shook hands with Kisame before leaving out the front door. Saki came out of the kitchen and took hold of her husband's hand.

"What are you going to do, Kisame?" she asked, "That was the Angel. It won't be a good idea to refuse her."

He brought Saki into his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead.

"Don't worry. Really. We'll figure something out."

In the end, Kisame accepted the invitation to join the Akatsuki, and Saki was two months pregnant.

Seven months later, Saki was admitted into the hospital. She was eleven hours into labor with Kisame constantly glued to her side. Through all her effort, a healthy baby girl was born. Her hair was pastel pink and her eyes were a lovely shade of green- emerald. As Kisame held her tiny, fragile body in this arms, he smiled.

_Beep... Beep... Beep..._

His head snapped up to his wife who was panting softly and growing paler by the minute.

"Saki?!"

Nurses and a doctor bustled into the room, fussing around her and the machines around the hospital bed. Saki gazed upwards at her husband and daughter and mustered a shaky grin.

"Ki... Kisame... I love you and... I always will... You know that, right...?"

"Of course I do, and I love you too, but-!"

"Hush, darling..." she interrupted softly. Her hand then raised slightly to grasp his much bigger hand. "Put our sweet... girl beside me, would you...?"

He lowered the baby down onto the bed. Saki turned her head to the newborn and caressed her cheek softly, tears pouring out of her eyes.

"Ah... My little Sakura... I'm sorry for doing this to you... sweetheart... Mommy loves you... And Daddy... Daddy will have to take care of you... from now... on..."

Her hand slowly slipped out of Kisame's blue hand as the room filled with the single tune of the heart monitor.

Kisame walked out of the hospital that day with a heavy heart and a bundle of his new hope on his arms. He stopped in the cover of an old tree, staring out into the rain as it assaulted the streets.

_What am I going to do now?_


	2. Snake Eyes

Orochimaru raised an eyebrow as his gaze went from the baby sleeping quietly in Kisame's arms to Kisame's serious stare.

"What is this?" the sannin questioned slowly, "I was aware that Saki-san was pregnant, but I didn't think this was one of the first places you would bring your newborn, Kisame-kun."

They were sitting in Orochimaru's apartment. Seeing as all the Akatsuki members lived in the same apartment complex, it was no trouble for the ex-Kiri nin to walk up the short flight of stairs to visit the apartment just above him. Kisame was drafted for a mission over the course of the next five days, and he didn't know who to leave Sakura with. A regular babysitter was out of the question considering how shady of a village Amegakure could be. His choices had to be narrowed down to the unusual members of the Akatsuki- people he could trust somewhat.

"Saki passed away last week."

"Oh... I was not aware. I extend my condolences."

Orochimaru meant it in his truest sympathy.

"Since she's not... here... anymore, I need someone to look after Sakura when I'm off on missions. I have one in half an hour, actually. Name your price- anything! I just need your word that Sakura will be safe while I'm gone." he said. Orochimaru eyed him curiously and thought it over. It was no secret that Kisame loved his wife and his unborn child the last seven months he knew of her. He was an odd one, really. A bloodthirsty monster with a kindness in his heart.

"I want fifteen of Samehada's scales for experimental reasons. Give me that, and I will take care of the girl."

"_Sakura_."

"Sakura."

Kisame gingerly handed over his daughter and gave the other man a look.

"If anything happnes to her, I'm gonna skin you and sell your hide to the highest bidder."

He gave a small goodbye to his baby girl, sent one last warning gaze to Orochimaru, and left the apartment to begin his mission. Left alone standing in the middle of his living room, he glanced down at the bundle in his arms. She had woken up and was squirming slightly in her blanket. Her eyes blinked open, revealing bleary round eyes that stared at him confusedly. They soon turned warm as she gave him the tiniest of smiles.

"A strange one, I see." Orochimaru mused, "I suppose that your ridiculous judge of character came with that horrendous shade of pink hair."

Her smile grew wider.

Orochimaru picked up the key Kisame left on his coffee table and walked out the door. All of Sakura's things could be found easily, according to the note Kisame also left. Kisame, though, neded to improve his handwriting because the entire note was barely legible.

"Are you... babysitting?"

Orochimaru could recognize that lazy, drawling voice from a mile away. He looked over his shoulder.

"I am." he replied. Sasori slunk over smoothly and peered at the bright eyed baby with his interested, half-lidded eyes.

"Kisame's?"

"Aa."

"How peculiar."

Sasori raised a wooden hand and ran his fingers through her fluff of hair.

"Her hair seems soft even though I can't feel it. Her skin is rather pale for a newborn, but her cheeks are blush pink. When she grows older, do you think Kisame will mind if I turn her into a puppet?"

An exasperated look was thrown his way, and he merely shrugged in return.

"Kisame might change his mind about her in the future." he said. Sasori leaned closer to the girl, his eyes analytical, "Besides, who would love a mass of flesh that does nothing but drool and lay in it's own feces?"

"Bwuh..."

Both men stared at Sakura for a few seconds before a discontented scowl crossed Orochimaru's face. Sasori smirked and took a step backwards.

"Good luch on the girl, Orochimaru. You're going to need it."

He spent the next hour trying to change Sakura's diaper.

Orochimaru sat down on Kisame's couch with a tired sigh. He had spent the last fifteen minutes tring to coax the girl to sleep, but was to jaded from trying to figure out the mechanics of super absorbent elephant-print diapers prior, so he sent one of his summons to curl around her to keep her warm.

Babies were so... exhausting... that he didn't know why people wante them so badly.

After about ten minutes of resting and collecting his thoughts, he heaved himself onto his feet and walked into Sakura's room. She was nestled comfortably in her crib with a white serpent -about the size of a green anaconda- watching her adoringly.

"I see you've taken quite a liking to the mass of cartilage." he commented. Nao, the snake who was also known as Manda's wife, raised her head from it's resting spot on Sakura's stomach.

"How rude." she sniffed, "I am quite aware she has a name, and it is not a '_mass of cartilage_'. Won't you call her by her name, Orochimaru-chan?"

"Does something like that really deserve to be called a name?" he questioned. He leaned over the crib to get a better look at Sakura, but was promptly smacked at the back of the head with Nao's tail.

"She is a baby, Orochimaru-chan! She might not be much now, but one day she might become a strong shinobi if Hoshigaki-san decides to lead her down that path. She is just starting out. Just you wait, Orochimaru-chan. You might be surprised by what she may become."

Kisame came home five days later, anxious to see his baby girl. As he stepped through the threshold of little Sakura's bedroom, his eyes made contact with an enormous white snake. In the crib. Cuddling Sakura.

"OROCHIMARU! WHAT THE FUCK!"


	3. Her Laugh

Orochimaru walked out of the bathroom just in time to see Kisame stalk over towards the crib with his hand on the hilt of Samehada.

"Nao-san isn't going to hurt her, Kisame-kun."

"You know you old bat, I'd appreciate it if you told me you'd be puttin' a snake in my baby girl's crib!"

"Please be at ease, Hoshigaki-san." Nao said. She raised her head until she was eye level with Sakura's father. "Your daughter is simply precious and I assure you I'd do nothing to hurt her."

Kisame visibly relaxed and set his sword against the wall and turned to Orochimaru.

"Well it seems that you two have done fine with Sakura. Any casualties?"

"Diapers lost their lives while you were gone." Orochimaru answered dryly.

"... I'll take that as a no."

Orochimaru took his leave soon after, but not before casually mentioning that he wouldn't mind babysitting again at a later date. Kisame concealed his grin. Nao left as well, saying that her husband needed her back at Ryuuchi Cave and that she'd come again when she had the time. This left the large blue man to pick up his little girl and sit in the plush leather armchair he had next to the crib. Sakura was fast asleep dressed in her light green footie pajamas. She sighed.

"Saki would've loved you so much, baby girl." he murmured softly. "I'm sorry that she couldn't be here for you. But don't worry, sweetheart. Daddy's here. Daddy'll be here for you and will love you forever.

Sakura squirmed a tiny bit before opening her eyes. They were drowsy, but brightened when they landed on her father's face. The smile didn't quite reach her lips, but shone in her eyes.

Four months later...

Kakuzu was seething. Paperwork and money issues had pile up on his doorstep when the Akatsuki House in Tea Country had been destroyed. He had been tasked with redesigning the new house and setting the new budget for reconstruction. To add to that stress, all this was due in the next three days.

And he was babysitting Sakura for the day.

She was comfortably nestled in her bouncer seat on the floor behind him. She was chewing on her teething ring and was being exceptionally quiet. His attention returned back to the schematics on his kitchen table sighed as his tendrils picked up the blueprint and tore it in half.

_RIIIP_

Tinkling laughter echoed from behind him. Slowly, he spun his chair around, both pieces of ripped paper still in his tendrils. Sakura was smiling at him with her arms moving up and down amiably. He took one part of the torn blueprint and ripped it again. Sakura laughed- this time louder- in childish pleasure.

_RIP_

_RIP_

_RIP_

At six o'clock, Konan walked through the open door of Kakuzu's apartment. The first thing she noticed were the scraps of paper that were scattered all over the floor, and the first thing she heard was Sakura's cute, cheerful giggles. Her eyebrow cocked upwards incredulously as she raised her eyes to the blank-faced man sitting across the room.

"What are you doing?" she questioned. Kakuzu shrugged.

"Nothing."

Konan was far from convinced, but let it slide. She walked over to the bouncer seat and picked Sakura up.

"Whatever you say. How are your plans regarding the house in Tea Country?"

"My thoughts are rather shredded."

"I see. And you consideration for the budget?"

"Split down the middle."

She sighed and hefted Sakura higher, who had returned to gnawing on her teething ring.

"Just make sure you get it in before the deadline, Kakuzu-san. I'll take Sakura off your hands now so you can focus."

Konan folded the bouncer seat and made way towards the door. Sakura's upper body peeked up from over the woman's shoulder. One hand was wrapped around her teething ring and the other was flailing up and down in Kakuzu's direction. When he inclined his head in return, she smiled at him and stopped waving before disappearing along with Konan. Kakuzu took one look around, now no longer within distraction's reach, and sighed.

The mess. Shit.

Konan had always loved children despite being apathetic by nature and not being able to have kids of her own.

Everyone was surprised when Kisame came one day with a baby. They were even more surprised when Pein had allowed Kisame to keep his daughter. Perhaps it was that their leader didn't want to delve too much in their personal lifes, or maybe he had been feeling generous that day, or even maybe he had been feeling pity for the girl who was born to one of the most dangerous and wanted men in all the Five Nations.

No one knew, and no one dared question Pein's decision.

Once Konan reached her apartment, she set up the bouncer seat and placed Sakura inside. She then walked over to the fridge, took out a spare bottle of baby formula she had, and put it in a bowl of warm water, and waited. She looked across the room to see that Sakura had grown amused with wiggling her toes. Sometimes, this child made Konan wonder.

Have all ruthless shinobi started out as innocent babies?

...

Probably so.


	4. Control

Sasori walked down the streets of Amegakure with his hand clasped around a much tinier one. One year old Sakura trotted alongside him happily, not at all minding the dreary demeano that the village seemed to emanate. Fat drops of rain hit their cloaks mercilessly, but they were used to it. Everyone was used to it. As they passed by the market place, Sakura tugged on his hand and pointed to a stall.

"Apple!" she exclaimed. Sasori looked at the glistening green apples before looking back down at the girl.

"Do you want an apple?"

Her head bobbed up and down, shaking her pink strands of hair.

"Apple!"

He paid for an apple and let her munch on it for the rest of their walk.

"Where go?" she asked after finishing her apple ten minutes later.

"A store. I need more wood to create my puppets."

"Dollies?"

His eye twitched.

"_Puppets_. Dolls and puppets are different, Sakura. Dolls are what little girls play with. Puppets are what I use to kill people." he explained. The members of Akatsuki didn't feel the need to sugarcoat or censor their words, much to Kisame's displeasure. They, of course, didn't kill or torture in front of her, but the conversations they had around her had very few limits.

"Kill? Like poson?"

"Poison." corrected Sasori, "And yes. I kill them with my puppets too."

She nodded, a bright smile on her face. Once they reached the store, Sasori instructed her to wait right outside with a small wooden puppet. Sakura gladly accepted it and hugged it close. It wasn't the greatest thing she'd ever gotten, nor the prettiest, but it was given to her by Sasori-san and she would cherish it. She named it Hiruko-kun.

After about two minutes of waiting, she was sitting cross-legged on the ground- utterly bored. There was an overhang where she was sitting to shelter her from the harsh rain, but she didn't understand why she couldn't go into the store with him. It was surely much warmer and drier in there.

At that moment, a miraculously dry cat sauntered up to her with one black eye and one red eye.

"Kitty!" she cooed, "Kitty! Kitty!"

The cat purred and rubbed against her outstretched hands. Sakura giggled and ran her fingers through the cat's luscious fur. The cat jumped onto her lap and brushed it's face against her cheek.

When Sasori exited the store, Sakura bounded up to him with a wide-spread grin across her face.

"Sas'ri-san! Sas'ri-san!"

The red head looked down at her.

What is it?" he asked. They stepped back into the rain and went on their way back to the apartment complex.

"Pretty kitty say somefin' I dunno."

"Oh? And what did the pretty kitty say?" Sasori inquired, playing along with her train of thought.

"Be careful."

He paused and looked down at Sakura's chubby, smiling face. Without a doubt, the supposed cat she met up with while he was at the store was a summons or a transformation. Who, though, would approach a defenseless little girl...? Sasori's eyes darted around the area, looking around for a cat. He spotted such a feline laying languidly on the branch on one of Amegakure's sparse amount of trees. The cat's gaze met Sasori's instantly and lingered before it disappeared in the leaves of the trees.

"... I see." Sasori murmured._ He_ was involved now, and Kisame could only hope that his daughter won't have any part of the Akatsuki's future plans.

"Home now, Sas'ri-san? See Papa?" she asked. He nodded.

"Let's go home."

They walked back through the rain, Sakura clutching Hiruko-kun to her chest.

At three years old, Sakura was rather bright for her age. She was constantly asking questions, not that anyone minded. She was a curious child who wanted to figure out the world around her. Luckily enough, her nature of wanting to learn more had made her the perfect candidate to study under her father's teachings of his shinobi style. When Kisame was free from missions, he'd take his daughter a mile or two away from Amegakure to the Ame-Kusa border to train. The land there was smooth and the sky was clear.

Sakura loved the sun because it felt wonderful on her alabaster skin as she seldom felt it's heat back in the village.

"Okay, baby girl. What do you think makes a great shinobi?"

Sakura cocked her head to the side. She onced asked around about what the others did to become so strong and notable. Orochimaru-san was a sannin, Sasori-san was a puppetmaster, Kakuzu-san has five hearts and four monsters, Konan-san was the paper angel, her daddy was one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and Pein-sama was the leader of the village.

"Control." she answered finally.

"Could you... explain that?" he questioned, not sure if he heard correctly.

"Control." Sakura repeated, "Even if you have lots n' lotsa power, you don't needta have it if you don't know how ta' use it."

Kisame was surprised at his daughter's words. his lips curled up into a proud grin as he tousled her hair affectionately.

"Wise words, shortstack. Now let's see... have you worked with chakra before?"

He really doubted that she did. He gave specific instructions to the others not to train her until-

"Yup!"

-Well, now someone was going to die.

Sakura set her favorite toy Hiruko in an upright position on the ground. Kisame watched with unmasked awe as she attached chakra strings to the wooden puppet and made him do a small dance. Chakra control. Sasori had... taught her refined chakra control. He turned his head to the nearby lake and brought her over to the bank.

"I'm sure Sasori mentioned something about condensing chakra into your fingertips and keeping a steady flow, right?"

She nodded.

"Try doing the same thing again, but concentrate your chakra into your feet and walk onto the water. Don't worry if you don't get it right the first time, baby girl. You're just starting out."

Sakura put Hiruko-kun atop a rock before staring down at the lake with a determined glare. She already knew how to swim, so it wouldn't be a problem to break right through the water's surface. She took a shaky step forward and ultimately plunged into the freezing liquid.

"Cold!" she squeaked. She tried as best as she could to scurry out with her father's bellowing laughter echoing through her ears. Once she was out of the water, she turned to him with the cutest scowl he had ever seen.

"Papa! 'S not funny!"

"S-Sorry sweetheart." he coughed, pushing down his laughter, "Go ahead and try again. I won't laugh if you fall again. I swear."

It took three more trial's through Kisame's poorly concealed chuckles before she finally got it. Kisame unrolled the fluffy towel he brought with him and wrapped it tightly around his daughter's shivering form.

"You ready to go home? You can take a hot shower and spend the rest of the day with Konan-san."

She bobbed her head cheerily and walked hand in hand with Kisame back to Amegakure. As they left the clearing, a black cat jumped down from a tree and stared after them with deep interest.


	5. Porcelain

Six year old Sakura Hoshigaki was quite the bookworm. She approached Pein alone one day and stood a couple of feet from his desk and waited patiently for him to acknowledge her presence. When he did five minutes later, he stared at her blankly albeit a tad surprised. She had never approached him so boldly before and had only sent meek smiles his way whenever he seemed to catch her eye.

"What can I do for you?" he questioned smoothly.

"G-Good morning, Pein-sama!" she greeted, "Sorry if I'm b-bothering you, but I was just wondering if you have any books on water jutsu. I was... I already read a lotta books in the library and I wanna know if there are any more."

She fidgeted slightly under his scrutinizing gaze until he stood up abruptly and glided to the shelf that was lined on the entirety of the north wall. Sakura watched curiously as Pein scanned the numerous books and scrolls until he pulled out a particularly large scroll with teal lining. He handed it over to the girl.

"This was taken from Kirigakure years ago and it is of no use to me. You may read it to your leisure."

Her eyes lit up considerably as she held up the scroll with both arms and bowed. She scurried out of the office excitedly and nearly barreled into the people in the hallway.

"That was rather kind of you."

Pein looked over his shoulder to see Konan emerge from a shadow in the corner of the room.

"... I suppose." he answered slowly, "But it was merely to satisfy her thirst for knowledge. Nothing more."

A whisper of a smile crossed her face when Pein turned his back. Sakura was like a little ball of sunshine in the Akatsuki's darkened world. She was undeterred by all the violence and harsh truth that surrounded her and somehow managed to keep her innocent aura. Konan was glad that the Akatsuki were exposed to someone like her. They might not have admitted it, but Sakura had softened them to the point where they were nearly humane.

Konan sighed and stared out the window. Their peace, though, may not last long if Kisame decided to push forward with his plans.

* * *

><p>"Konoha?" Orochimaru inquired, "Of all the places, why would you send her there?"<p>

The four Akatsuki members were seated around the dining table in the house they had in Tea Country. Sakura was in the other room, reading a technique scroll.

"I want her to have a better life. A normal life. Well, as normal as a shinobi's life could get. I don't want her to be in this environment for all her life unless she chooses it. I don't want her to be obligated to stay because she was born into this lifestyle."

Silence fell over them.

"You know you won't be able to see her grow up." Kakuzu said. Kisame nodded solemnly.

"I know."

Sasori's head suddenly shot up and raised to look at the roof.

"I wasn't expecting company." he smirked. The four stood up from their seats and prepared their weapons. Kisame headed towards the living room first and landed next to Sakura's spot on the ground.

"Baby girl, I want you to go to your room and hide."

"P-Papa?"

"Now, baby girl. Go on. I'll come find you when everything's okay."

Sakura jumped to her feet and ran up the stairs with the scroll bundled up in her arms.

_BOOM!_

The wall of the living room exploded and a group of shinobi rushed in. Sakura shut her door as quietly as she could and took refuge in a closet with Hiruko-kun clutched to her chest. She could hear more eruptions and clanging metal coming from downstairs. She wasn't going to lie- she was incredibly scared. She sat in the darkness anxiously, waiting for her Papa to open the door and tell her everything was over.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, she saw a shadow moving in the light underneath the door. Fully expecting to see her Papa, she prepared herself to smile and to throw her arms around him.

But the man that opened the door wasn't her father.

A stranger with a dog-like mask stood silently, peering at her with the eyes she couldn't see. He reached out to her and the the base of her neck.

* * *

><p>The man gathered the unconscious girl in his arms and leapt out the window, making sure to take her puppet with him. He crouched down on a tree branch and brought forth one of his animal summons.<p>

A small, brown pug appeared.

"Whattya need, Kakashi?"

"Pakkun. I need you to run a two mile radius around this house and make sure no one's in the area. Hurry- I don't think we can last against these S-Class criminals much longer."

Pakkun glanced at the pink haired child before nodding and bounding off. This gave Kakashi and his team about two minutes to set everything up and made sure everything went according to plan. He looked down to the girl in his arms and gazed at her interestedly. The poor girl. Who knows what she had gone through, being forced to stay with these... these _monsters_.

Kakashi's eyes caught sight of an aged white paper of some sort peeking out from her pocket. Intrigued, he pulled it out. It was an old, crumpled envelope- still sealed with the words _To My Baby Girl_ written on the back.

"Kakashi! It's all clear!" shouted Pakkun's voice. Kakashi slipped the envelope back in Sakura's pocket and pushed down a button on his radio.

_**"Hare, Pig, Hawk, Monkey. Retreat into positions for Plan Bright."**_

Kakashi himself readjusted the girl in his arms and ran a couple of miles back.

_**"Hare. Are you in position?"**_

_**"Hai."**_

_**"Pig?"**_

_**"Hai."**_

_**"Hawk?"**_

_**"Hai."**_

_**"Monkey?"**_

_**"H-Hai."**_

Kakashi watched the attacked house from afar on a hill top and located each of his teammates' positions. He pushed the button on his radio once more.

_**"Now."**_

Four chakra signature fluctuated as a chorus of shouts filled the air.

"RAITON: LIMELIGHT!"

Arcs of lightning erupted from the four cardinal directions and eventually converged and crashed onto the house.

* * *

><p>Sakura pried open her eyes to see blurred white as the smell of cleaner and chemicals assaulted her nose. Once her vision focused in, she realized she was staring at a ceiling. In a hospital. A hospital... but where?! Outside the room, she could hear hushed murmurs. She only picked up a couple of sentences, but they told her everything she needed to know.<p>

"... were you... Limelight... killed?"

"Hai... Oro... and... Hoshi... dead."

"...sure?... Kisa... elimin...?"

"No... survive... lime..."

Sakura sat up gingerly, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She looked over at the table at her bedside and saw her old, worn envelope. It was the one her father gave her. He told her not to ever open it unless something happened to him and he just couldn't be with her anymore. More tears poured out of her eyes as she realized that this was the time to open it.

_Baby Girl,_

_If you're reading this, well... it seems that I've let you down after all. I've told you time and time again that I wouldn't be leaving you anytime soon, but here you are._

_I'm so sorry, Sakura._

_I swore that I'd protect you for as long as I was alive, but I was wrong. I'm going to protect you even after now. I'll always be there for you._

_Everything you've done and everything you will do- I'll support you either route you take. Lead the life the way you want it and don't let anyone get in the way of your dreams. I may not have been the best father, but I hope I was enough._

_Since I'm gone now, maybe I'll get to see your mother. I'll be sure to tell her all about you- how smart your are, how beautiful you've become, how much you've grown... Your mother will be so proud of you. I'm so proud of you._

_I love you, Baby Girl. And I can't imagine how much more wonderful you'll become._

_- Daddy_

Sakura hugged the letter to her chest and cried harder.

"Papa... I... I love you... Why did you have to die...?!"

* * *

><p>Pein surveyed the damage with a critical eye. The house had been reduced to a scorched crater in the ground.<p>

"Report." he demanded softly. The thick silence filled the air, surprising both Pein and Konan.

"... One dead..." Sasori murmured. Pein turned around with furrowed brows. One dead? He saw all of his members alive and-

_...Oh._

His face slowly melted into one of no expression and his eyes turned blank. Konan shut her eyes and turned around, adding to the newfound air of sorrow around them. Kisame was nowhere to be seen, and as it turned out, he was on the ocean shore about ten miles out, staring out at the blue waves that brushed up against the sand.

He was battered and bruised like the rest of the members, but he didn't care. All he cared about was the the tiny red ribbon that he salvaged from the charred rubble.

Sakura used to wear it around all the time.

"I'm sorry, Baby Girl..." he whispered, "I couldn't protect you. What kind of person am I, letting you go away like that? You had your whole future ahead of you... One so bright and... and..."

He choked on his words as a lone tear slid down his cheek.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm so, so... sorry..."


	6. Honor

Sakura- a name they once uttered with affection and high spirits had now turned into something of a taboo. Ever since they learned of her death, no one had mentioned her name or anything related to her. Anything mentioned about her would plunge Kisame into a bout of self-blame for a few hours before he was back onto his feet. Her death had impacted more that just him, though. Everyone was affected one way or the other.

The Akatsuki house was now filled with silence. There was no longer the soft pitter-patter of feet down any of the hallways, or her small, twinkling laughter of anything she found funny in a book she read or a story they'd tell her, nor the papers strewn across the living room filled with colored drawings or out-stated shinobi techniques. No, there was none of that anymore. There was no little girl, only a memory.

Near the beach ten miles out of the Akatsuki House in Tea Country lay her headstone. There was no body to recover, but they wanted a proper burial for her anyways. Each member paid their respects, and after five hours, Kisame was left standing there, staring blankly at the grave. Fresh flowers and a miniature wooden puppet that greatly resembled Hiruko sat right under the engraving.

_Sakura Hoshigaki_

_Six Years Old_

_One Who Didn't Deserve an End,_

_But Deserved a Future_

Kisame fell to his knees and leaned on the gravestone.

"Sakura... My baby girl..."

* * *

><p>Two years later, the Akatsuki recruited a new member. A thirteen year old boy named Itachi Uchiha who was set to be Kisame's partner. The veteran members had to be a bit skeptical about it. With him being paired up with someone so young- a child- wouldn't that only bring back terrible memories? Luckily, Kisame had gotten a little better over the past couple of years. The death of his daughter still stung every time her name was mentioned, but he'd always remind himself that Sakura was off in a better place.<p>

She was with her mother, after all.

Konan, though, was the most worried about Kisame and Itachi being partners even though she didn't show it. Itachi had murdered his loved ones by choice, yet Kisame lost both of his by a sick twist of fate. Both Kisame and Itachi were being acquainted right now down by the lake near their base in Fire Country. And ocne Kisame found out what Itachi had done, who knows how he'll blow up.

* * *

><p>"You're thirteen years old and you've defected from your village. What did you do?" Kisame asked. He was leaning against a tree while his partner was sitting at the edge of the dock, his legs dangling and his gaze glued to the horizon.<p>

"I murdered my clan."

Silence engulfed the air as Kisame slowly pushed himself off the bark.

"You _what_?!"

"Murdered my clan." Itachi repeated, "They were in the way and I took care of them."

"You killed your family?! What the hell is wrong with you?! They loved you and you chose to end their lives for them! That's some fucked up thinking as far as I'm concerned!"

Itachi's brow furrowed as he looked over his shoulder. Kisame was seething with rage.

"Is there a problem, Kisame-san?" he questioned, genuinely confused. The older man's face suddenly fell and he took a few steps backward. He sighed and turned around.

"Nevermind. Forget what I said."

Itachi watched as Kisame stalked away. After about half an hour, Itachi stood up and walked into the Akatsuki house. The first person he passed in the hallway was Sasori, so he held out his hand slightly to stop him.

"Excuse me, Sasori-san, but do you know where Kisame-san might be?"

"He's out training in the forest and it's best not to interrupt him. He seemed pretty upset- I assume he learned about what you did, correct?"

Itachi nodded, causing Sasori to let out a small sigh.

"Don't worry over it too much." Sasori said, "One day, you'll know."

He walked away, leaving the teen to his own unsettled thoughts. Not two months later after that incident, another one occurred. Orochimaru was leaving the Akatsuki, but he wasn't leaving quietly. It was at the house in Tea Country (Kakuzu angrily noted that this house was being destroyed for the _third_ time) and it was nearly in shambles due to Orochimaru's snake summons. Unsurprisingly, Orochimaru had tried to take Itachi's body as his own and failed miserably in the process. As five large snakes terrorized the house, Orochimaru made his escape.

He headed north towards Fire Country, but not before making a quick stop at the beach. His hand was pressed to his side to stop the bleeding inflicted form one of Sasori's puppets, yet he managed to crouch down in front of the grave he was visiting.

"This is the last time I will be able to pay my respects." he said. Orochimaru reached into his kunai pouch and pulled out an old photo and a small candle. He first lay the photo on the dirt before lighting the red candle with a quick fire jutsu and placing it on top.

"Happy Eighth Birthday, Sakura Hoshigaki."

Later on in the day when the situation had calmed down, each of the Akatsuki members had taken time out of their day to visit her grave and pay respects. Kisame was the first one to arrive with a bouquet of flowers and noticed the half melted candle and the worn photo that was with it. He set the bundle down and took the picture into his hands.

It was of Sakura's third birthday after she demanded that they all work together to make a cake. Needless to say, it ended up with broken eggs all over the floor, senbon and kunai lodged into the fridge door, and flour covering every square inch of the kitchen as well as it's inhabitants. Everyone, including a stark-faced Pein, had been crowded into the photo. Most of them were in the midst of arguing when the shot was taken, but Sakura was staring straight at the camer with a full blown grin with a sloppily made chocolate cake sitting on the counter in front of her.

Kisame smiled.

* * *

><p>"Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan!" Mebuki and Kizashi exclaimed. Sakura grinned at her foster parents. Two years ago, Sakura was taken in by a civilian couple. She had been lightly interrogated once she was cleared from the hospital.<p>

_Do you know your name?_

_Where were you born?_

_Where are your parents?_

_Where were you raised?_

_Did you know the people who were in that house?_

Sakura remembered the things her father and the others had taught her and answered each question carefully.

_Sakura._

_Amegakure._

_Mama and Papa are gone._

_We traveled a lot, but I don't know where we went._

_No... I didn't know those people._

She knew that she was lying to them, but as long as she was protecting the people she loved- even though they were dead- was worth it. Sakura always thought about everyone.

Sasori-san, Kakuzu-san, Orochimaru-san, Konan-san, Pein-sama, Papa...

She may now be a part of Konoha, but she'll never forgive them for killing her family.

"Sakura-chan!" Mebuki called, "Come over here, darling, it's time to cut the cake!"

Sakura made her way towards the kitchen, a smile plastered on her face.


	7. Found

"Naruto!" Sakura groaned. Team Seven were at their designated training grounds, working on throwing their kunai and shuriken. Naruto had messed up one of his throws and sent his kunai just inches from Kakashi's face. Now he was blaming the only person he'd always blame.

"This is all your fault, Sasuke-teme! If you hadn't distracted me, I would have hit the bullseye, 'ttebayo!"

"If you were truly aiming for the target, you would have hit it, usuratonkachi."

"Oi, who the hell are you calling usuratonkachi, asshole?!"

Sakura sighed hopelessly and looked over to see her sensei who was reading his customary Icha Icha Paradise. He returned the exasperated stare with a cheerful eye crinkle.

"You can go head on home, Sakura." he said, "Since all your projectiles hit the center of the target, consider this a little treat."

She sent him a tiny smile before turning around and walking off the grounds. She remembered Kakashi from before, but she wasn't sure if he remembered her. Kakashi Hatake was the ANBU that orchestrated the attack on her family and the one man that took her from her home. Sakura sighed again as she entered the market district. The place was bustling, as usual, but even more shinobi were in the area than you expected.

_'They're probably preparing for the chuunin exams that'll happen in three months.'_ she thought. Sakura sat down in her favorite sweets shop. After she ordered a plate of green tea mochi, she leaned back in her chair and stared down at the table.

She really did miss everyone.

It had been six whole years since her Papa told her he'd come for her when everything was okay. Six whole years since Konoha took away everything she held dear...

She shook her head then smiled at the waitress who brought over her food. As she ate, she was unaware of the black cat sitting on the window sill, watching her curiously with it's mismatched eyes.

* * *

><p>Zetsu looked at his one, true leader.<p>

"Is there something of interest to you, sir?_** I'm sure that your cheerful demeanor is not because of the wonderful weather.**_"

The leader chuckled.

"No, no. That isn't it at all. Tell me, Zetsu-kun, do you remember the little Hoshigaki child?" he asked.

"Sakura? Vaguely. _**I barely had any interaction with her, but I know how much she meant to the organization.**_And of course- I wasn't talking about our line of business."

The leader sat down on the couch in the empty Akatsuki 'living room' and stretched out full length.

"Well, it turns out she didn't perish in the lightning explosion. The Konoha shinobi mistook her for a hostage and brought her into their village where she was put into foster care where she has been staying with a single civilian family for the past six years." he explained carelessly. Zetsu's eyes were wide as he listened to this newfound info.

"_**I'll go inform the ot-**_"

"You will not."

The leader's lips were curled into an amused smile as he twirled his mask on his finger.

"The Akatsuki will not know of her existence until she makes herself known by her own means in the shinobi community. 'Till then you will not mention her. Is that clear, Zetsu-kun?"

"... _**Yes**_, sir."

Zetsu sunk into the ground, leaving the leader to his thoughts. When he knew he was alone, he grinned- pleased with himself that he conveniently left out the part where Sakura was placed on a genin team with the man who kidnapped her, the lone survivor of the Uchiha massacre, and the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tailed Fox.

* * *

><p>One normal, calm day in the surrounding area of the Akatsuki House in Tea Country, Itachi, Hidan, and newcomer Deidara made a depressing discovery.<p>

The three were waling in the forest after completing a three-man mission (they succeeded but the teamwork was _horrendous_), and the tension between them was high. As they walked down the path that separated the beach from the forest, Deidara saw gray from the corner of his eye.

"What's that, un?" he asked, pointing to the side. Itachi and Hidan turned their heads to see a slab of rock positioned under the shade of trees with a fresh bundle of lilies in front of it.

"A gravestone? What the fuck?" Hidan questioned, stepping towards it with unmasked interest, "Who's Sakura Hoshigaki?"

At that moment, Sasori's words played through Itachi's head.

_"One day, you'll know."_

Back at the house, Kakuzu was sitting at the dining table with numerous papers and the Akatsuki's funds laid out before him. The three returning from their mission walked in and took their respective seats on the old couches. Without turning around, Itachi spoke.

"Kakuzu-san, who is Sakura Hoshigaki?"

Kakuzu halted his work.

"... I take it you three have seen the grave."

Deidara and Hidan nodded. The older man sighed and set down his pen.

"It's not my story to tell, so you need to ask Kisame about her."

He gathered all his belongings and headed off to his room.

"But who the hell was she, seriously?"

"She's... a little girl."

* * *

><p>There was a heavy blizzard settling in Frost Country just where Itachi and Kisame were assigned to complete their mission for the next two weeks. The storm forced the duo to take refuge in a damp cave for the night. A crackling flame sat between the two, providing the only sound for the first half of the night.<p>

"Kisame-san," Itachi said, finally breaking the silence, "It is not my intention to pry, but-"

"The grave. Yeah, I heard from Kakuzu-san."

Another bout of silence slithered through them.

"Sakura's my daughter," he murmured, "Her mother died giving birth, so I took her into the Akatsuki. I had no other choice and there was no way in hell I was ever giving her up. So for six years she was raised in this organization. The others had no problem with her so she was able to stay. But one day, a group of Konoha shinobi came and blew up the house."

He pointedly left out the part where he found out that she didn't survive, but Itachi understood perfectly. Kisame leaned back against the cool wall of the cave.

"She's in a better place." Itachi commented quietly. Kisame's head hung low as he propped his arm up with his knee.

"... Yeah."


	8. The Mission

"Woohoo! Finally, a mission to show off my awesome skills!" Naruto shouted. He paraded triumphantly out through Konoha's gates, the rest of Team Seven and Tazuna the bridge builder following closely behind.

"Kami, is the brat always this noisy?" Tazuna sighed.

"Unfortunately." Sasuke muttered in reply. Naruto didn't seem to hear them and continued forward with a grin spread across his face. Sakura watched him from afar, a smile on her face. It was always nice to see Naruto in such a good mood. She had never met someone so eccentric and cheerful before, so she appreciated his presence as ray of sunshine whenever she was down. Sasuke though, was just the broody little brat. Although he was pretty handsome, he was a pretty big ass.

But that didn't matter to her. She handled his attitude rather well anyways. As the five of them walked the path towards their destination, they passed a large puddle. Sakura stared at it as she passed by, intrigued. Then she turned to her sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei, it hasn't rained recently, has it?"

"No... not at all, actually."

Two men suddenly sprung from the puddle and trapped Kakashi with chains before abruptly slicing him into pieces. Sakura's eyes widened as Naruto stared in horror. Yeah, she had always heard from the others about the horrors of death and the shinobi world, but she had never seen someone so brutally mutilated before.

Even if it wasn't real.

The two men then turned to Naruto and lunged at him. He was frozen in shock but was lucky enough to have Sasuke intervene and tie the two attackers with their own chains. Sakura was rather impressed with what she saw and she stood in front of Tazuna armed with a kunai. But, as she expected, Kakashi re-appeared to take the enemy down.

She feigned her surprise and happiness and watched with pretend interest as her sensei gave a long winded explanation about the true nature of the mission and reflexes of a shinobi. She didn't need to hear this after her father had ingrained this information in her brain time after time during their training sessions together. Sakura sighed. She really needed to stop reminiscing about her dad.

The group continued forward, eventually reaching the edge of the continent and climbing onto the boat to take them towards Wave Country. As they rode on the boat through the foggy waters, Tazuna gave his speech of how this Country turned to it's demise as Gato, a shipping baron, made his place known and ruined Wave's economy. The boat then passed through a tunnel and revealed a sunny village propped just a few feet on top of the water. From there, they entered the forest to continue forward to their destination.

_'That damn Sasuke. Always has to be the one to act all cool.'_ Naruto grumbled inwardly, obviously still bitter from the events from an hour ago._ 'I'll just show all of 'em how cool I could- no, really am!'_

Naruto stopped in his tracks and scanned his surroundings. The rest of his team and Tazuna stopped as well to look back at him.

"Naruto, what are you doing now?" sighed Sakura. Naruto said nothing as he slid a kunai from it's holster and flung it to the bushes. A pure white rabbit jumped out, falling motionless on the road- suffering from it's mini-heart attack.

"Mr. Rabbit!" he cried, rushing towards the poor animal, " ! I'm so sorry! I'm sorry!"

Sasuke's eye twitched, Sakura suppressed a groan, and Tazuna shook his head hopelessly. Kakashi, on the other hand, peered at the rabbit suspiciously. It was a snow rabbit that only made it's appearance during the winter time. It was late spring.

From up on a tree branch under the shade of the leaves, a man stood watching them with a larger than normal sword slung diagonally across his back. His eyes went from the odd genin cuddling the rabbit to the jounin standing languidly to the side. Without a word, he gripped the hilt of the sword and flung it at them.

* * *

><p>Zetsu was slated for an assassination mission in the Land of Waves. The small country had recently been terrorized by a man named Gato who had coincidentally been mixed up with some Akatsuki business. Pein saw him as a nuisance- a pesky fly- and ordered for a quick and quiet kill. It would do both the Akatsuki and Wave Country and enormous favor. A winwin situation, if you will.

Zetsu wasn't the type to dawdle and left immediately. As he traveled to Gato's estate, he stumbled upon a particularly interesting scene. One of the Swordsman of the Mist, Zabuza, was engaging in battle with a group of Konoha shinobi. Genin. He spotted a flash of pink, peaking his interest even further. It was the little Hoshigaki. Zetsu watched it all unfold from afar, his bright pair of aureolin yellow eyes shining dimly from the distance.

He saw that Sakura had been separated from the rest of them by a Zabuza clone who had cornered her somewhere in the forest. He had his kubikiribocho up to her neck.

"You're young, but you're weak. I'd kill you this moment, but I'll give you a chance. Give me a reason why I shouldn't kill you, and if the reason is something I've never heard before, I might just spare your life." Zabuza said. Sakura took a deep breath and stared up into the man's eyes shamelessly.

"I am Kisame Hoshigaki's only legacy."

Zabuza and Zetsu were equally stunned with her bold answer. When Zabuza didn't reply, she continued.

"You may not believe me, but I am his daughter. He'd tell me stories too, you know. From his life back in the Mist. He wields the sword Samehada and had obtained it by killing Fuguki Suikazan. Suikazan was considered a traitor by leaking information about his village, and my father was the only one brave enough to come to him and attack him in his own home before leaving the village for good."

For a few seconds, the two stood there in complete silence before Zabuza retracted his sword. He had no reason not to believe her. Every part of her story was true, and no one outside of Kirigakure had ever learned the real truth of Kisame's defection.

"Kisame was a good man, but he was far too soft for the life of a Kiri shinobi."

The Zabuza clone poofed out of existence. Zetsu's eyes followed Sakura as she recollected herself and ran back to the scene.

"I would have never expected her to use that answer. _**I half-expected her to cry and beg for her life, yet she gave a legitimate answer...**_ I wonder how Kisame would react if he saw her now."

He sunk back into the ground. Minutes later, he re-appeared in an empty clearing with an immobile Zabuza and a hunter-nin looming over him. Zetsu assumed that Sakura's team had succeeded and had quickly left the area, probably celebrating their false victory. He observed as Zabuza seemingly 'came back to life' from awakening from what Zetsu believed was the wearing off of cantarella poison.

The two bickered back and forth for a while, Gato's name popping up every now and then.

They were employed by Gato with a Konoha team to stand in their way.

Gathering all the facts together, Zetsu allowed himself a smile. He wouldn't be the one to kill Gato. He would let everything flow into place with him observing curiously from the shadows.

* * *

><p>After three days, Kakashi's eyes cracked open. His three students were sitting in his room, waiting for him to wake up.<p>

"Kakashi-sensei! You're alright, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

"...I guess I am. Tell me, do you guys remember what happened to Zabuza?" he asked. Naruto nodded.

"'Course we do, sensei! That weirdo masked guy took him away, right? He's as good as gone. We don't gotta worry about him anymore."

Even if Naruto and Sasuke didn't quite catch on, Sakura understood perfectly. For a short amount of time, Kakuzu had been a hunter-nin of his village. The role of a hunter-nin strictly entailed that you work on a dead body on the spot, as quickly as possible. You would never take them to a secluded area for privacy, nor would you delay the process of working on the body. The person who took Zabuza, whoever he or she was, was a fake. And all of them fell for the ruse.

Kakashi decided that this would be the best time for a training session in chakra control and ushered all his three genin outside. He followed behind them in crutches and gestured to the surrounding trees. They would be participating in a tree walking exercise. Whoever reached the top first could end their training sooner. After Naruto and Sasuke complained (Sasuke way more subtly than Naruto), the three of them picked out their trees and tried to walk up the bark.

After her second try, Sakura was seated on the highest branch with a grin on her face.

"Well, well, well." Kakashi mused. "It seems that the girl of the team is the best chakra controller. Very well done, Sakura. Not only do you understand it, but you know how to control and maintain it. We spoke about someone becoming Hokage one day, didn't we? It seems Sakura has the best chance of that. And as for the great Uchiha clan... maybe they aren't so great after all."

Sakura winced. _Burn_. She hopped off the branch and did her best to ignore the waves of rage that was coming off of a seething Sasuke. She approached Kakashi and waited for his orders.

"What do you want me to do now, sensei?"

"Hmm... whatever you please. Your training is done today. Once again, well done, Sakura"

She threw him a small smile and made her way out of the clearing, but not before Naruto ran up to her with his glittering cerulean eyes.

"Sakura-chan, how'd ya do that? Please, please tell me your secret!" he begged. Sakura put her finger on her chin and thought of a way to explain chakra control to him as simply as possible.

"You just need to calm yourself, Naruto. Focus on the tree- not on me, not on Kakashi-sensei, not on Sasuke. Just the tree. If you do that, you'll keep a steady chakra flow." she said.

"So... I just relax?"

"Exactly."

He gave her a blinding grin before turning to the task before hand. Sakura continued her way back to Tazuna's house. As she walked down the path, her eyes trailed around the area. She really loved nature and how sunny and beautiful everything was. It was rarely like this in Amegakure so when she was a kid she always looked forward to her training sessions outside the village. Forests were always so alluring and calming to her.

When she turned her head to the right, she saw a pair of yellow eyes in the distance.

"...Z... Zetsu-san?"

They disappeared.

"Zetsu-san! Wait, Zetsu-san! Please!"

She bolted towards their direction hoping to Kami that it was really him. After running for a few minutes, she was starting to give up hope, but she soon saw an outline in the distance. It was a rather tall figure with the tell tale signs of flytrap additions on his shoulders. Sakura stopped a few feet from him and caught her breath.

"I never knew... you survived, Zetsu-san... were you the only survivor?"

He turned and looked down at her with a raised eyebrow.

"_**Survived? Everyone's alive...**_ Sakura, you didn't know? You're the one who's supposed to be dead."

"...Papa's alive?" she whispered, shocked. Zetsu nodded once, causing tears to start trickling down the girl's face. She brought her hands up to wipe her reddening eyes as she sobbed happily. Relief flooded through her veins. He was patient enough to wait for her to finally calm down, and when she did, she looked up at him gratefully. Before she could say another word, he raised his hand.

"Don't get your hopes up, Sakura. _**I cannot allow you to see them, nor can I tell them that you're actually alive.**_"

Her spirit plummeted down.

"Oh..." Sakura murmured, "Why... Why not...?"

"_**On orders.**_ I'm sorry."

Her dejected face was hard to look at. Zetsu sighed.

"There is one way. Grow stronger and make a name for yourself known as a shinobi._** Once the world knows who you are, the Akatsuki will find you. I guarantee it.**_ Train hard and don't let anything get in your way of your strength. Goodbye, Sakura._** I won't be see you again anytime soon.**_"

He sunk into the ground immediately after, not seeing the small smile that bloomed on her face.

"Goodbye, Zetsu-san. Thank you."

* * *

><p>The next time Zetsu saw Sakura was right after Konoha's final battle against Zabuza Momochi. The Uchiha survivor was impaled with countless poison-tipped senbon and had miraculously been staying alive. Kakashi was standing over the dead body of Haku, the hunter-nin, and the nearly lifeless Zabuza. Zetsu was stationed on the bridge with the top half of his head poking out from the ground. He had missed most of what happened, but he made it just in time to catch a cluster of Zabuza's last words.<p>

"Leave my sword... on my... on my grave... I entrust it... to th-the... legacy of Kisame... Hoshigaki..."

Zetsu blinked unbelievingly.

Then watched as Gato's ass got beat.

* * *

><p>A blonde woman stood in the shadows with her chakra completely repressed and her eyes locked on the scene before her.<p>

Team Seven was at the grave site of Zabuza and his trusted companion, Haku. They were buried near a cliff with Zabuza's sword placed on the ground above them.

"We're just tools, aren't we, sensei?" asked Sakura.

"We are. There's no point in wondering whether it's right or wrong. It just is how it is."

"What a bunch of bullshit! Is this why we all go through this training? To end up just like them?" Naruto questioned angrily.

"That's one of the many questions that go unanswered, Naruto. Shinobi have to deal with it in our daily lives. That's the ninja way."

"Forget that ninja way, I'll make my own!" he exclaimed. Kakashi smiled from underneath his mask as the team began to walk away. Sakura, though, stayed behind, saying that she would catch up with them later. Once they were out of sight and hearing range, she grasped the hilt of the sword and pulled it out of the ground.

"I'll make sure I'll be the legacy you expect. I'll treasure your gift as well, Zabuza-san. You won't regret this decision."

The woman in the shadows straightened and narrowed her eyes.


	9. An Eye for Genjutsu

Sakura brandished a wide yawn. Team Seven had been assigned to an easy string of missions to complete that day. First they had to pull some weeds, then taking garbage out from a nearby stream, and finally to walk dogs for Konoha's Animal Hospital. They completed the day's work in the span of two hours, leaving them to have the day to themselves.

Sasuke left them immediately to who knows where- probably to brood about something. Probably his most hated person whoever it was. Naruto had gone off to play ninja with Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon. Sakura didn't have any plans that day so she trailed after them. When Konohamaru turned around and saw her, a cheeky grin crossed his face.

"Hey, you're better than I thought, Naruto-nii, " he commented, wiggling his eyebrows, "Being cool is one thing, but being able to pick up chicks is something completely different, you know?"

What.

"Hehe, you guys are pretty sharp, eh?" Naruto replied sheepishly. Sakura said nothing as she clenched her fist and punched his gut, sending him flying through a nearby fence.

"What the hell did you do, ugly girl?" Konohamaru yelled. _Ugly?_ That particular insult enraged Sakura, causing the three academy students to run away. She chased after them relentlessly until Konohamaru crashed into a foreign shinobi. The shinobi was wearing all black and purple war paint with something bandaged strapped to his back. He scowled at Konohamaru and grabbed the boy by his collar, hoisting him up in the air. The shinoi, a blonde teen with a gigantic fan strapped to her back, merely smirked.

"Oi! Put 'im down!" Naruto exclaimed as he ran towards the stranger with a clenched fist. The stranger caught it and threw Naruto back with barely any effort. A stone came out of no where, hitting the stranger's hand and making him drop Konohamaru on the ground. Everyone looked up. Sasuke was sitting in the tree overhead as he tossed another stone up and down.

"Get lost, foreigners." Sasuke said in his usual monotonous tone.

"Great, another weakling I have to deal with. And you know what else? You're the type I hate the most- all bark, no bite." the stranger growled. He took the wrapped object off of his back.

"Kankuro. Back off. _Now_." a new voice deadpanned. All their attention was then turned to the right side of the tree where a red-headed boy stood on the underside of a branch with his arms crossed. A large, tan gourd sat on his back. "You are a disgrace to our village."

"Hey Gaara..." Kankuro acknowledged meekly. Gaara stayed quiet as his dull eyes scanned over the group of people. They landed on one in particular.

"My apologies for my brother. I hope he did not cause much trouble for your team, Sakura."

"Oh, not at all, Gaara-san."

* * *

><p>"It's that time of year again." the Hokage announced to the room of jounin, "The genin of other countries have already flooded in."<p>

"When do we start organizing?" Kurenai questioned from the back of the room. Hiruzen's eyes glittered.

"One week."

* * *

><p>Everyone looked back and forth between Sakura and Gaara in surprise.<p>

"Are you here for the chuunin exams?" Sakura asked, ignoring the stares from her team mates and the academy students. She played with Gaara a couple of times when they were younger. There was an Akatsuki House somewhere in Wind Country, and whenever they needed supplies, they'd go to Sunagakure in disguise. Kisame would always leave his little girl in a local park with Nao keeping watch from a distance. And coincidentally, that was the park Gaara was always dropped off at.

"Yes." he answered quietly, "Temari, Kankuro, and I are a competing team."

"Wait, wait, wait- I've never heard of the chuunin exams, dattebayo." Naruto said. Temari, the blonde girl, rolled her eyes.

"You're so clueless. Everyone knows that the chuunin exams are the set of tests you need to pass in order to become chuunin. Damn, if you didn't know that much, you shouldn't even be a shinobi." she sighed. Gaara appeared between his siblings, and they began to walk away in the opposite direction. Sasuke leapt to the ground, staring after them with narrowed eyes. He turned his mouth to speak with Sakura, but she was already gone.

* * *

><p>Iruka was shocked when Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi recommended all of their genin. He pulled Kakashi aside after the meeting with the Hokage. Kakashi already knew what everything was about and held up a hand to halt the academy teacher's words.<p>

"Test them yourself, Iruka-sensei." he suggested, "You may think they're not ready, but they may surprise you."

Iruka nodded slowly and walked off to the first person he would test. Naruto.

* * *

><p>"Oi, Naruto-nii!" Konohamaru exclaimed as he ran across the bridge, "Wanna come play ninja with us? Please?!"<p>

Naruto 'hmm'ed for a while before giving a full blown grin.

"Well why the hell not? I don't have any dangerous missions today!"

Suddenly a figure appeared behind Moegi and snatched her up. He gave a harsh laugh before leaping upwards onto the support beams of the bridge. Moegi screamed for him to let go, but he only laughed again before he ran off into the forest. Naruto, Udon, and Konohamaru dashed after him.

"I was wrong to think that Konoha had powerful shinobi. Bah, what a bunch of pathetic weaklings you are!" the kidnapper cackled.

"Weaklings?! You're the stupid bastard here! You won't get away with tying Moegi to a tree!" Naruto shouted angrily. The kidnapper huffed and regarded the orange-clad genin with a mocking glare.

"Yeah? And you're going to stop me? Tough luck, kid. You're a joke. Get me the First Hokage's Scroll of Sealing and maybe I'll cut a deal with you. If not, I'll just kill the girl now."

Moegi tugged at the rope, but was rendered motionless. It was tied too tightly. She looked up to see Naruto just standing there with his arms crossed. The kidnapper glowered at him.

"So you're not going to get me the scroll, eh? I guess you don't care about what happens to the girl."

"What girl? All I see are two idiots- you and the one made out of straw!" Naruto laughed. The kidnapper turned around to see that indeed the girl had disappeared and had been replaced with a straw dummy. Without wasting another second, Naruto threw a net over the attacker and kicked him to the side. He was about to round house kick the creep, but all he saw in the kidnapper's place was a rock.

"I see..." the shinobi mused from behind a tree.

On the outskirts of the village, Sakura walked next to Sasuke as she stared down at her feet. She was reading a book until Sasuke approached her, asking to take her out on a walk. With no reason to decline, she accepted and followed him onto this cool, foggy road.

"H-Hey, Sasuke? Why'd you ask me to come along with you? Did you want to know how I knew Gaara?" she questioned. Sasuke stopped and turned around.

"No, I want to warn you about the chuunin exams. With your skill level... there's no way you can pass them. They're advanced and ruthless. You'll die if you go against them." he said. Sakura sighed and kept her head down.

"I was afraid you were going to say that, but I guess you're right." she mumbled. He smiled at her.

"Well, well, sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds on your cute little date." someone taunted. Sasuke spun around and blocked the shuriken coming his way. He dashed towards the figure that appeared in the distance and threw a kunai at the wooden umbrella that was flung his way. Big mistake.

The umbrella exploded on impact, sending hundreds of kunai into Sasuke's body.

"SASUKE!" screamed Sakura. She ran towards his fallen body and collapsed onto her knees. Her head was down and her entire form was quivering. The stranger stared at her with teasing eyes. He then watched as Sakura gripped a kunai that was plunged in Sasuke's chest. The attacker assumed that she would try to pull out as many kunai as she could and patch him up- but no.

Her hold on the weapon tightened as she drove it down Sasuke's abdominal cavity.

The stranger took a step back and stared at the scene in utter horror. Sakura pulled her legs out from under her and sat cross-legged on the ground. When she lifted her face, he saw nothing but confusion. Not a tear, not shock, not anything.

"The genjutsu is clever, but flawed." she pointed out, "His organs aren't in his body. Have you never seen the insides of another person, Iruka-sensei? Whatever you've never seen before can never be put in a genjutsu of your making because you don't know what they look like, you know? I only know what they look like because when I was younger, I was persistently taught the anatomy of a human being."

"But the genjutsu..."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I saw through it right when 'Sasuke' came up to me. I just decided to play along- pull your strings a little bit."

The real Sasuke was in the village and had just kicked an enemy shinobi in the face, sending him meters back. He then shoved his hands in his pockets and walked away.

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat on the roof of his apartment complex, gazing at the full moon. A pop sounded behind him and the enemy that all of Team Seven encountered appeared.<p>

"So, how'd it go?"

Iruka let his transformation fade away.

"They all made it. Your team and all the other rookie teams have made it. All nine genin are good enough to take these exams, Kakashi-san." he reported, "But about Sakura... I know she wasn't born in Konoha, but do you have any information about her background? Like place of birth, perhaps? Parent names? Anything?"

"No, actually. Why are you curious, Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka gave Kakashi the short version of what occurred back with Sakura. He was still visibly disturbed from her display. At this information, Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Is wasn't of normal mind for a twelve-year old girl to prove her point by _cutting a body open_. Yes, it was alright for her to know what was illusion and what was not, but there was no reason for her to justify her knowledge by doing something so brutal. His lone black eyes trailed up to his friend's face.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Yes. Remember the boy we were asked to keep an eye on? The Kazekage's son? Sakura seems to have some sort of... connection with him."

Kakashi nodded solemnly and slowly turned back around.

"Ah, yes!" Iruka continued, "After she cut him open and noted the abscence of the organs, she mentioned something. She said that she knew where to look because as a child, she was persistently taught the anatomy of the human body. I don't think that's normal."

"No... It certainly isn't."


	10. The String of Questions

"You're late, Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, waving her over. Him and Sasuke were already there, waiting patiently for her arrival.

"Sorry." she apologized sheepishly, "I overslept."

No, really. She did. She spent most of the night before doing simple exercises with the kubikiribocho and trying to get a better grip on her near-perfect chakra control. The three of them entered the building just in time to see a boy in green spandex get kicked across the hallway.

"You? Taking the chuunin exams? And you can't even get past us? Ha, what a joke!" someone laughed. "This is a walk in a park compared to what you'll face in the exams. Some of you won't survive, some will be wrecked for life and hell, let's be serious here. Some of us might even go crazy beyond all help."

In front of the entry door of the third floor were two boys around the same age of the genin. Sakura cocked her head to the side curiously. Those two had a striking resemblance to Kotetsu and Izumo- two chuunin she had the impression would be one of the numerous proctors of the exam.

She already saw the lie of this low-level genjutsu, as this actually was part of the exam.

"KInd words." Sasuke drawled, taking a step forward and receiving everyone's stares, "Now get out of our way. While you're at it, you could get rid of this ridiculous genjutsu. Anything to add, Sakura?"

"We're trying to get to the third floor, so please don't stop us at the second." Sakura quipped cheerfully from behind him. Murmurs filled the hall as the Kotetsu look-alike smirked and released the genjutsu.

"You've got sharp eyes. Wanna come over here and see if my foot can shut that big mouth of yours?"

Sasuke's eyes glinted mockingly. He accepted silently and swung his leg to kick, the other boy doing the same. Before their shins could collide, the boy in green spandex ran between them and stopped them.

"What are you doing?" a pearly eyed boy sighed, "You were the one who suggested the low profile, Lee."

"I know, Neji-san, but..."

Once the crowd dispersed, Lee walked up to Team Seven-more specifically Sakura- and flashed a bright, white, grin.

"Hello! My name is Rock Lee- you are Sakura-san, correct? If I may say, you are the most beautiful girl I have EVER had the chance of laying my eyes on! Please go out on a date with me and become my girlfriend! In exchange, I will protect you with every fiber of my being!"

Naruto stared at him with wide, saucer-sized eyes as he tried to digest what he just witnessed, and Sasuke's eye twtiched a couple of times. Sakura let out a nervous trickle of laughter as she smiled at him.

"I'm... really sorry, um, Lee-san, but I'm really not looking for someone right now.." she replied. He did not falter and only smiled brighter.

"Then I shall wait, my beautiful lotus blossom! One day, I'll take you on a date you won't regret!"

Neji shook his head and their female teammate sighed. Team Seven walked around them and made their way to the entrance room. First, though, they got sidetracked by way too much spandex green spandex.

The experience was terrifying.

When they wandered upon the door to the waiting room of the exams, Kakashi was there waiting for them. His lean form was propped up against the door and his eye was glued to the latest volume of Icha Icha Paradise. Hearing the footsteps of his young team of genin, he placed his book in his vest and greeted them with a smile.

"Good morning Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. I'm glad that all of you made it." he greeted cheerfully. He conversed casually, saying all that what usually was expected in the exams, but Sakura watched him with a critical eye. She had a guess that Kakashi had become aware, maybe a little bit suspicious of her. Perhaps she told Iruka too much. Eventually, he let them by with a simple 'good luck' and they stepped into the room.

It was filled with shady looking genin. They all looked equally dangerous and intimidating, causing Naruto to gulp apprehensively. As Sasuke and Naruto were off conversing with the other rookies, Sakura was off to the side. Her eyes roamed around the room, picking out anybody she might consider a major threat. As her Papa always told her: _"Never underestimate your opponent. No matter how small they might look, no matter how weak they might seem, they'll always do something to surprise you. Always keep your guard up."_

Her gaze landed on a guy on the opposite side of the room. He was plainly average with silver hair tied up in a ponytail with black, circular glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose. He was looking at a thick deck of cards in his hands before he looked up at the group of rookies. A smirk bloomed onto his face as he made his way towards them. His feet made no sound as he walked- a feat a genin shouldn't be capable of or even being aware of.

Ah, so it's like that, is it?

She later learned that his name was Kabuto Yakushi and the deck of cards he had were actually information cards. Sasuke used this to his advantage and asked about Gaara and Rock Lee. Suddenly, smoke appeared at the front of the room and a deep voice boomed from its confines.

"Alright you baby-faced degenerates, shut the hell up! You're gonna listen to me right here, right now!"

Once the smoke cleared, a large number of sentinels were revealed, as well as the proctor for the first portion of the exam. The commanding officer of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force.

"I'm Ibiki Morino, your first proctor and your worst enemy. " he introduced maliciously, "We'll begin this test in just a few minutes, but I want to get a few things straight. There is no combat, no attacking each other without permission, and absolutely no fatal force. If you mess with me, you're outta here. Understood? Good. Now everyone come take a number and take a seat in the room."

The room filled up quickly and quietly, pleasing Ibiki. The test hasn't even started yet and Sakura sighed as she watched Naruto freak out a few rows in front of her. Then she took to listening to the excessively long speech about the rules and guidelines of the written portion of the chuunin exams.

No talking.

No cheating.

If you get caught cheating five times, you and your team are out of the exams.

... Yeah, that was the gist of it. That and the final question would be given out fifteen minutes prior to the end of the testing period. After Ibiki called out 'Begin!', Sakura flipped over her paper and stared down at the questions. There were nine.

**Question 1: An enemy shinobi has been captured and you are in charge of torturing him for interrogation. He's hard-headed and he doesn't give in quickly. What do you do to get the information?**

Sakura thought for a few seconds.

_You leave him for three days with no food and water. By then, he should start suffering. If he has yet to talk, break his arm, his shin, and his jaw. If that doesn't work, douse him in water and attack him with a medium level lightning jutsu. If he is too loyal to his village and even genjutsu or mind attacks cease to work, do not give him a second chance. Kill him immediately._

**Question 2: An enemy shinobi is twenty feet away on a tree that is ten feet tall. Taking in the account of the average height of a man, how far will you have to throw it so that it will pierce his heart and how much strength should be applied to assure his death?**

She quickly wrote down the mathematical formula and the range of every single possibility.

***Question 3: You have 94 chakra pills which each heal 482 chakra. You can use healing touch for 32 chakra to heal 127 health each. An enemy ninja has 147 medicinal pills which each heal 732 health but cannot use healing touch. Using pills and healing touch, who can heal the most health and by how much? **

It was simple.

_I could win by 72, 212 health._

***Question 4: A shuriken is moving at a speed of 36.7 metres per second when it hits an enemy ninja in the stomach. The shuriken penetrates through the flesh a distance of 6.21 cm. What is the deceleration of the shuriken while moving through the flesh (assuming a uniform deceleration)? **

_10,844 per second._

***Question 5: Which of the main chakra points is the strongest link to the spiritual world?**

_Crown._

**Question 6: Death is inevitable in the shinobi world. Your teammate has just been killed. What do you do?**

_Disappear their body and complete the mission. You can't allow your emotions to intercept your purpose in completing your mission._

**Question 7: List all the possible natures you can use to perform ninjutsu.**

_Fire, wind, lightning, earth, water, boil, ice, magnetic, dust, wood, storm, lava, explosion, scorch, blaze, yin, yang, yin/yang._

**Question 8: Assume that you have the ability to heal yourself. You are covered in numerous wounds. What do you do to keep yourself alive for the next few hours?**

_Stop the bleeding of all wounds and stay awake for as long as possible._

**Question 9: Pick the most important rule of the shinobi guidelines and explain why it is the most important to you.**

The last question was strangely simple, but Sakura went along with it anyways.

_Shinobi never reveal their true motive. There are times when they must deceive everyone: friends, family, teammates, allies, associates, and lovers. There are times when they must kill friends, family, teammates, allies, associates, and lovers. Your duty is to whom you swore your allegiance to. If they ask something of you, you must complete it, no matter the cost._

She set her pencil down and looked up at the clock. Only ten minutes have passed by and everyone else was still struggling with the second question. She sighed and leaned back in her chair as she blocked an attempt at a mental intrusion. Ino, probably.

Time went by painfully slow for her and the room seemed to become emptier and emptier with each passing second. Finally, time came for the last question. Sakura was lost in her own thoughts when it came and she hardly paid any type of attention to the proctor or the events around her. Apparently, though, Naruto had yelled out such an inspiratonal comment that it caused everyone in the room to pick the correct answer to the last question: the confidence to move on even when position is threatened.

Ibiki smirked and began his dismissal, though not before one named Anko Mitarashi burst into the room and had exuberantly informed that she would be their next proctor.

Sakura and Sasuke grimaced.

This woman was another Naruto.

* * *

><p>It was sunset by the time Ibiki started picking up the test papers from the desks. He had a good laugh at a handful of them. Many people panicked near the end and had scribbled in some ridiculous answers. Ah, the creative, naive mind of genin. A grin was on his face until he encountered the paper at seat number 51. Everytime he read each answer, a little part of his grin would melt away.<p>

When he read the candidate's ninth answer, his lips were pressed in a thin line and his eyes were narrowed. If anything, this paper had jounin answer on it. And the answer of the first question wasn't even in the most common torture practices in Konoha. Ibiki folded the paper and tucked it his black trench coat.

Sakura Haruno, eh?

Well, now he'd have to speak to her sensei.

_***Questions with the asterisk were taken from: . I do not own the ones from this site. I don't know if they're right or not, so if it is wrong and you know it is, please correct me. :)**_


	11. Hello Again

Ibiki walked down the hallway of the Jounin Standby Station the very next day. The genin were at the Forest of Death with Anko for the next week, so their senseis would probably lounge in this building most of the time. He hoped that Kakashi would be here so he wouldn't have to go on a man-hunt for the day. Luckily enough for him, Kakashi was indeed there. He was seated beside fellow genin instructors and was thumbing through his obnoxiously perverted book.

"Hatake." Ibiki called, "I need a word."

Kakashi nodded once and stood. The two walked to the roof of the building where the other jounin rarely ever went.

"Is there a problem, Morino-san?"

"I want you to keep a closer eye on the girl of your squad. Sakura Haruno." he informed. He reached into his trench coat and pulled out the girl's test sheet. After unfolding it, he gestured to the very first question. Or more specifically, the answer.

"I know some genin are more experienced than others, but this is far out of any genin's league. This interrogation sequence isn't even one of the ones taught in Fire Country, let alone Konoha. If I had to take a stab at the origin of this particular torture method, I'd guess eastward."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"Are you suggesting that this is Water Country sequence?"

"It's more than likely. Look over the rest of the paper- her first answer isn't the only surprising thing." Ibiki replied. Before he walked away, he remembered something else, "I almost forgot. She was the only actual participant that got a 100% on that paper without cheating."

Kakashi took a seat on the railing and carefully read the test paper. Questions two to four were answered flawlessly, as expected of her. Her IQ was higher than normal and he expected at least this much from her. Question five was a relatively easy question and anyone could've answered it right, even Naruto if he cared to study. Questions 6-9, on the other hand, sparked his interest as well as his suspicion.

For number six, she stated to 'disappear' the body. 'Disappear' was a term that didn't appear until you reached the rank of ANBU. If you weren't an ANBU and you knew what 'disappearing' was, there was a good chance you would never act upon it. Genin had yet to feel the true horror of their lifestyle, and the chance 'disappearing' a close friend was one of those horrors. His guess was that she had already lost people close to her. He remembered that during Sakura's tiny interrogation six years ago, she mentioned that both parents were dead. Perhaps she witnessed their murders?

On number seven, there were thirteen chakra natures that she wasn't supposed to know about. Kakashi made the assumption that since she was a bookworm, it was normal for her to stumble across these uncommon natures in her readings. Number eight was also easy to understand. If she knew about the human anatomy, she would probably know the simple ways to treat wounds.

Her answer to question nine was the one that made him the most uncomfortable.

_Your duty is to whom you swore your allegiance to. If they ask something of you, you must complete it, no matter the cost._

She did not mention a Kage nor a village. Just the sole person your loyalty stands with. Kakashi sighed and looked at the blue sky above him. Looking at this paper made a question pop up in his head- one of the many he wondered now and again.

Why was Sakura found with a group of dangerous criminals?

* * *

><p>Sakura had her own problems to deal with this very moment. Just twenty minutes ago, her team was released into the Forest of Death. Naruto was no where to be seen, leaving her and Sasuke together with an enemy kunoichi standing before them. She took her earth scroll, the one her team was given before the exams started, and swallowed it whole.<p>

"Oh, this scroll was the one you wanted, correct?" she chuckled, patting her stomach, "You can see that its useless to you now."

Sasuke ground his teeth and charged.

"Sasuke, wait!"

The woman quickly backhanded him and stared at him straight in the eye. A genjutsu was cast over him, paralyzing his movements. Then, she turned to Sakura. The mocking look in her eyes had soon melted away as she slowly walked to the genin. Sakura tried to move, but she couldn't no matter how hard she tried. Snakes had erupted from the ground and had wrapped themselves around her legs and torso. Once the stranger was right before the genin, she reached out slowly and tilted the girl's chin upwards. It was silent for a solid twenty seconds.

"Who are you?" the woman questioned quietly.

"Sakura... Sakura Haruno..."

"Is that your real surname, or is this a newly adopted one?"

Sakura's eyebrows furrowed. Could this person possibly be someone from her past? She slowly shook her head, causing the woman to let go of her chin and sent her snake summons away.

"Then it is truly you, little Sakura Hoshigaki..."

She snakes, the voice, her father's last name- it clicked. Sakura smiled.

"Orochimaru-san!"

A strangled grunt could be heard as the both of them looked to the side. Sasuke had stabbed his leg and was now slowly coming out of the genjutsu. When he did, he bolted to the right, gathered Sakura in his arms, and made his escape. Orochimaru stared after them with expressionless eyes before following soon after.

Sasuke landed up in a tree and set Sakura down beside him. He yanked the kunai from his leg and looked from side to side. His eyes were wide with panic as he breathed heavily.

"I sense you fear and desperation..."

An enormous snake loomed over them. Sasuke and Sakura jumped out of the way before it's fangs could reached them.

"... though I suppose it is only natural."

The summons first went after Sasuke. He threw a handful of shuriken at it- killing it almost instantly. The back of the snake's neck was sliced open and the woman emerged. Her grin was absolutely predatory as he tongue flickered out.

"A prey must never let their guard down, especially in the presence of their predator!"

The disguised Orochimaru shot out of the snake, coiled his body around a tree branch, and launched himself at Sasuke. Half way there, his path was obstructed by four shuriken and a kunai.

Naruto had come to save the day, but Sakura didn't know how long he'd last against someone as powerful as Orochimaru. She expected him to send a long range attack or to order his clones for a massive attack. He did neither and charged for the enemy and the newly summoned snake.

"Naruto stop!" Sasuke yelled, "You don't know what you're dealing with!"

He learned soon enough when the snake whipped its tail upwards, causing Naruto to smash back-first into the tree branches overhead. From her spot next to Sasuke, she watched as her blonde teammate's eyes turned _blood red_ as he kicked the snake in the face. The whiskers on his face were more pronounced now and he was growling animalistically. She was confused. Those red eyes... where could they have...?

_"There are nine tailed beasts scattered among the elemental nations." Konan said as she looked down at five year old Sakura Hoshigaki, "The more tails a beast has, the more powerful it is."_

_Sakura stared at the woman with wide-eyed wonder._

_"Wow, really~? So da one with nine tails must be really, really strong, right, Konan-san?! Where's dat one at? What's nine tails look like?" she asked. Konan smiled softly._

_"He's in a little boy about your age, but he lives far, far away in a place with lots of trees and sunlight. As for his looks... I don't think we'll get to see much of that, but his eyes are very bright and very red. Maybe even as red as blood and he's very mean with sharp teeth and whiskers."_

_Sakura puffed out her cheeks._

_"Really? Then what's the boy look like?"_

_"He's not very hard to find." she answered, "His hair is blonde and his eyes look like the ocean."_

Sakura gasped silently at the memory. Naruto was the Kyuubi. It was a simple as that. What disturbed her even further, though, was that the Akatsuki knew who he was and what was inside of him.

* * *

><p>Kakashi had special permission from the Hokage to look at certain mission reports from over a decade ago. The missions he looked for specifically were those who partook in mission in or in the general vicinity of Kirigakure. Most of them didn't catch his eye. Those missions were simple assassinations, guarding VIPs, or transporting special documents. Eventually he stumbled across an entertaining string of mission reports from none other than Ibiki Morino.<p>

_Assignment 67439: Suppressing Kirigakure's Cypher Division -_**FAILED-**

_Rank Level: S_

_Report By: Ibiki Morino_

_My team and I did encounter the Cypher Division, but their escort slaughtered all of them before we could obtain the codes. The escort was Kisame Hoshigaki, but he escaped before we could capture and interrogate him._

Kakashi skimmed through the rest of the report before putting it back where he found it and pulling out another file.

_Assignment 68698: Tracking Orochimaru's Whereabouts _**-COMPLETED-**

_Rank Level: S_

_Report By: Jiraiya_

_After finally finding Orochimaru's trail and following it for the past six months, I found one of the places him and a group of other missing-nins have been staying. He has apparently joined a dangerous organization. Their origins, leader, and purpose are still unknown, but what ever organization it may be, it's sure to be dangerous. Other missing-nin that have been traced to the location include Sasori Akasuna from Sunagakure, Kakuzu from Takigakure, and Kisame Hoshigaki from Kirigakure. The place I found them in is in a small house in the southern area of Tea Country. _

_Something is off, though._

_I detect a small chakra signature within the house, but I don't know what it may be._

_A prisoner, perhaps?_

Kakashi's eye narrowed. He then pulled out his own report from six years ago.

_Assignment 70005: Destroying a Missing Nin's Hideout _**-COMPLETED-**

_Rank Level: S_

_Report By: Kakashi Hatake_

_The house Jiraiya reported on three years ago has been destroyed successfully. Four chakra signatures had disappeared when Raiton: Limelight had obliterated the house. The identities of Sasori Akasuna, formerly of Sunagakure, Orochimaru, formerly of Konohagakure, Kakuzu, formerly of Takigakure, and Kisame Hoshigaki, formerly of Kirigakure, have been confirmed._

_Before the jutsu was used, however, I have taken from what I assume was a hostage. The 'hostage' is a little girl around the age of six or seven. Her hair is blush pink and her eyes are emerald green. I will take the responsibility of finding her identity upon returning to Konohagakure._

Kakashi set the file down and laced his fingers under his chin. From what he was able to read, it was safe to say that Sakura was indeed not a hostage. What she was doing three years prior to the destruction of the house was beyond him, but there was one thing for sure.

He had to keep a closer eye on her from now on.

* * *

><p>Sasuke and Naruto were unconscious at Sakura's feet. Naruto's stomach was smoking from the five-pronged seal that hit him, and Sasuke was bleeding from the freshly applied curse mark on the junction between his shoulder and neck. Sakura was staring at Orochimaru incredulously. He returned her horrified stare with small smile.<p>

"Sakura..."

He reached out to pat her on the head, but she took a step backward.

"How could you...?" she whispered. He sighed and retracted his hand. Sakura's fist clenched as her horrified stare turned into one of anger. "How could you do this to them?! How could you do that to Sasuke?! You gave him the Cursed Seal of Heaven!"

"Power and obsession are very dangerous things. Together, they make a monster." he replied softly, "Unfortunately for myself, I was consumed by that monster long ago."

"Take it away from him, Orochimaru-san!" she shouted. Orochimaru shook his head once.

"I'm afraid I cannot."

His hand reached out again and he pulled her into a hug. Tears sprung out of her eyes as she clenched the fabric of his shirt.

"Take it away from him... take it away..." came her muffled voice. The two stood there for a few more seconds before he pulled back and made his retreat up into the trees. For a long while, as he ran, he focused on the task at hand.. But even then, he could still hear Sakura's screaming ringing in his ears.

"How could you do this, Orochimaru-san?!"

"How could you do this?! To Sasuke?! To Naruto?!"

"How could you, Orochimaru-san?! How could you?!"

_"OROCHIMARU!"_


	12. Regardless

Sakura was strangely silent after the events of the second portion of the exam. Team Seven was recovering at the building in the center of Training Ground 44. Naruto saw this and sat next to her, worry filling his eyes.

"Is everything alright, Sakura-chan?" he asked. She nodded and gave him a whisper of a smile.

"I'm fine."

"You sure? You look pretty bummed out to me."

She nodded a second time.

"I'm sure, Naruto. Really, I am. I'm just tired." she replied quietly. Naruto finally left her alone after that and the miniscule smile faded from her face. She ran a hand through her messily cut short hair and brought her knees up to her chest. Her eyes slowly drifted over to Sasuke who was rubbing his collarbone every now and again. His injury had her thinking.

Was all of this_ really_ Orochimaru's fault?

If she recalled correctly, when Team Seven first banded together on the rooftop of the Academy, Sasuke had said that there was someone he wanted to destroy, no matter the cost. The thought caused Sakura to sigh and bury her face in her arms even further.

Sasuke still would've left even without the curse mark.

She shouldn't have yelled at Orochimaru like she did. Sakura guessed she was caught up in the moment to see her two boys passed out and near death on the ground. She raised her head and rested it on the wall behind her, blank eyes staring at the dark ceiling. People did things for power all the time, and no one was an exception. That was one of the many things her father had taught her.

Sakura knew her Papa was a good man, but he certainly was no angel- not even close to one. There was so much shinobi and civilian blood that stained his hands that all the time in the world couldn't wash it off. Once, he explained to her the life of a shinobi and the path she would take if she desired to be someone like him. There were six simple things she had to understand.

_1) If you need to kill, kill. Don't hesitate._

_2) Follow your leader's orders. Never make the mistake I have unless you want to sink deep into the life of a missing-nin._

_3) Always stay alert and never drop your guard._

_4)Trust no one, not even your teammates. Even if you do insist on trusting them, don't let anything slip by._

_5) Keep control of yourself and your weapon._

_6) Everyone has a reason behind their actions. Never jump to conclusions._

_7) Regret nothing._

Number four specifically started ringing in her head. She did trust Sasuke, but she didn't trust his current mental state. When he told the team about the person he wanted to kill, his voice was dripping with anger and venom. If she had to guess the person he wanted to kill, her best bet would be Itachi Uchiha. The sole murderer of the Uchiha Clan. Sakura sighed again.

Yes, this entire thing wasn't Orochimaru's fault. She should've known better than to blame him for that.

* * *

><p>Kabuto was complete bewildered. He was standing in line with all the other genin who were listening to the Hokage's speech about the preliminaries and what not, but his eyes were glued to the girl with the bright pink hair. Orochimaru-sama had re-told him the plan, but gave an interesting little detail to his set of instructions.<p>

_If Sakura Haruno gets in the way, do not hurt her._

For Orochimaru to give someone immunity from his plans was unheard of, driving Kabuto to wonder just exactly who she was. His eyes were searching her, trying to spot just what was so special about her. Her form was thin and leaning towards the scrawny side and her chakra signature was half used up. Absolutely nothing about her stood out besides her ridiculously colored hair.

At the end of Sarutobi's speech, Kabuto dismissed himself and pulled out of the exams, startling everyone. He walked out of the arena for a few minutes before slowly masking his presence and returning to the stadium to watch the preliminaries from the shadows. Sasuke's fight was up first and it lasted about ten minutes. It was short, to the point, and mildly entertaining. Kakashi Hatake took a him aside immediately after.

What caught Kabuto's attention, though, was how Sakura watched them. When they were gone, she sighed.

"The evil sealing method won't last..." she mumbled to herself. "Sasuke's still going to leave the village."

Kabuto's eyes widened. His brain whirled as he thought up all the reasons she could've known something like that. His musings led him to watch her when her battle came up. Against that Yamanaka girl. None of them seemed very strong, but something told him that Sakura wasn't exactly showing all that she knew. Suddenly, she went into an eerily familiar stance. Her legs were spread apart as she put most of her weight on her right foot. Her shoulders were slumped and she leaned forward, a kunai placed in her line of vision.

If the kunai had been replaced with a sword slung diagonally across her back with her hand on the hilt, she would have mimicked one of Kisame Hoshigaki's stances. And he wasn't the only one who made the connection. He turned his head to look at the once again disguised Orochimaru only to catch his gaze. Orochimaru inclined his head towards the fight and gave his predatory grin. His eyes glittered teasingly, as if to say_: Do you see something- or someone- in the way she fights?_

**'Hoshigaki?'** Kabuto mouthed. Orochimaru nodded. Kabuto turned his eyes back onto the fight just in time to see the blonde one cut her hair and throw it down in front of her in anger. It was a smart move to use those cut locks as a medium to perform her clan's secret jutsu. Sakura's fate seemed to be sealed at the moment- that is, until Yamanaka's body was forced back to life.

Ah, so she was strong enough to protect herself from mind jutsu.

The fight drew to a close and ended with a draw. Kabuto slipped away.

* * *

><p>As Sakura walked away from the arena and up to the second floor, Kakashi grabbed her arm gently and took her aside.<p>

"That was a tremendous fight. I'm glad you did your best, "he complimented, "Though I was only wondering... is there anything you'd like to tell me? Anything at all?"

Sakura looked up at him with confused eyes.

"Nothing of the sort, sensei."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

He let go of her arm and let her walk down the hallway to clean up in the restroom. As she walked, she passed a sound shinobi that came to watch the fights. He too stopped her by resting his pale hand on her shoulder.

"You did well in your fight." he said. His golden eyes bore into her emerald green was. She gave him a genuine smile and wrapped her arms around him.

"Thanks, Orochimaru-san." she whispered, "A-And sorry that I yelled at you earlier... I shouldn't have done it..."

* * *

><p>It was a wonderfully relaxing day at the Akatsuki House. It was that time of the year to stay in Tea Country and there weren't any missions to complete. It was a good day. Deidara decided to take a walk in the forest to find some inspiration for his art. He stumbled across the grave of Sakura Hoshigaki a couple of miles out and he stared at the headstone with interest. After a few seconds of staring, he sat cross-legged in front of it and pulled out his clay.<p>

Deidara ended up molding a cherry blossom in full bloom.

"You know, I'm really curious about you, hm." he said, his eyes glued on the grave in front of him, "They don't really talk about you much here, but from what I've heard, you were a bubbly kid, yeah. And I have to admit, Kisame-no-danna didn't seem like the type to want kids."

A calm breeze slipped by, brushing his bangs out of his face.

"But then again, I understand why he might have wanted a kid and the pain of losing someone so precious. I had a little sister, yeah. Her name was Dai."

Deidara stashed his clay away and leaned back on his hands.

"She was beautiful and I loved her so much, yeah. She'd always follow me around saying 'Ara-nii!', 'Ara-nii!'. Damn, I loved her so much... but she didn't... I couldn't..."

He stopped himself to gain his composure and took several deep breaths. His eyes held a glassy look, but he held his tears in.

"Dai-chan was only five years old, yeah." he murmured, "But she got so sick. For months, she was absolutely miserable and she wasn't going to get any better, hm. I stayed with her as much as I could, and one day, in the middle of the night, her tiny, bony hand tugged on my shirt. I remember exactly what she said to me that night..._ 'Ara-nii... Ara-nii... It hurts... Make it stop... Please, Ara-nii...'_ I didn't want her to stay miserable like that. The disease... it was killing her slowly and making her suffer. I had to do something. A-And I did."

His voice cracked near the end and this time, he couldn't stop the tears from pouring down his face.

"I gave her her medicine like usual. I ground up the pill, put it in her tea, and put lots of honey to mask the taste, yeah. She smiled at me, drank it, and we talked until she fell asleep. She didn't wake up, though. The doctors said that the disease finally took her life, but I knew it wasn't that, yeah. I knew it wasn't the disease that killed her! I hated to see her so miserable. I hated to see her die slowly like that when I couldn't do anything about it."

Deidara pressed and hand to his eyes and clenched his teeth.

"Sometimes I wish I never had a little sister, yeah. That way I would've never felt like I died inside when it was my own fault that her life slipped through my fingers. Then I remember that I needed her because I loved her so damn much."

He gazed up at the grave once again a gave a humorless smile.

"You probably were one of those types of lives, weren't you, Sakura, hm? The one person everyone loved and the one fate enjoyed ripping from everyone's lives. You were just like my Dai-chan. People, especially shinobi, need people like you in our lives, yeah. You remind us that we aren't all bad and that some part of us, even a little part of us, is still human. I bet the Akatsuki loved you like a daughter, hm. And I also bet that they cried like every other person when you died... But I guess it's better that way. People like you and Dai-chan are reminders that murderers like us still have hearts.

That people like us could actually love."

From afar, Kisame sat on a tree branch, gazing softly at a old, tattered red ribbon in his hands.


	13. Dreams

_**Warning: To me, it seems that this chapter might seem harsh to some people. So be wary. This is your only warning.**_

"There's something I'm curious about, Sakura." Kakashi said. The two of them were sitting in the stands of Konoha Arena, waiting for the final portion of the Chuunin Exams to begin. She looked up at him.

"What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering about your fight with Yamanaka-san. You were moving slower than usual and you weren't going for openings that I knew you were aware of."

Sakura's eyes lit up as she grinned.

"You see, sensei, the Chuunin Exams bring shinobi from all over the five nations. I'd rather pass through the system as someone of low standards than someone to keep an eye on. It's better to be underestimated than overestimated." she replied. Kakashi nodded in agreement and turned his head to look at the fight that was about to start.

"If you know that much, I'm guessing that you know how dangerous the last fight's going to be."

"Way ahead of you, sensei. Go ahead and get Sasuke now so you aren't ridiculously late when Sasuke's time comes up."

Kakashi inclined his head and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura leaned back in her seat and stared at the VIP box across the stadium. There was a chakra signature in there that sure as hell wasn't a Kage and was eerily similar to that odd Kabuto character that left in the preliminaries. This was all a part of Orochimaru's plan. She sighed.

Someone was _definitely_ going to die.

* * *

><p>Hidan was staring intently at the grave in front of him. He was curious about why the Akatsuki members persisted in visiting her even after how long? Six years? That was some serious dedication as far as he was concerned. Like everyone else, he heard that Sakura Hoshigaki was Kisame's daughter, but he never understood why they grieved over her so much. She was dead. That's it. Why couldn't they all get over her?<p>

"What are you doing here?"

Hidan looked over his shoulder to see Kakuzu's looming form walking towards him. He shrugged.

"I dunno. I was just thinking-"

"-_you_ were_ thinking_?"

Hidan snarled at the interruption and glared at the other man harshly.

"Asshole. As I was saying... I was thinking about this girl. She was just one person. What was so special about her anyways?" he asked. Kakuzu leaned back against a tree.

"I don't know how to describe it to you. Kisame-san loved her deeply and he would never give her up. He took her into the Akatsuki and we raised her. It's that strong bond with a parent and their child. I myself don't remember that kind of... affection... when I was younger, but perhaps you do."

Hidan's back was facing him and he couldn't see anything on Hidan's face, but Kakuzu had a nagging feeling that he delved into something painfully personal.

"I don't know what any of that shit feels like- love and what the fuck ever. My mom was a drunk who screamed at me and beat me everyday. My dad was a waste of skin that did things to me that he should've done to the whores on the streets." he informed solemnly.

Kakuzu flinched. He might be a monster of a shinobi, but no one deserved what Hidan had to endure as a child. He said nothing, and Hidan took that as cue to continue.

"But like you said,.. everyone loved her, right? Did that mean you loved her too?"

The question caught Kakuzu completely off guard, but the question really had the gears in his mind turning. Love? That was a word rarely seen in their line of work. Up until joining the Akatsuki, his entire life wasn't even a life at all. It was a mission with a goal to survive day to day. Kakuzu sighed.

"... I suppose I did."

Hidan exhaled softly.

"That's good." he said, "Even though her life was short as hell, she didn't spend it in misery. She spent it with people who cared for her."

The two were drowned in silence for a few moments before Kakuzu pushed himself off of the tree and walked back into the house. When he was out of hearing range, Hidan fell backwards and crossed his arms behind his head as he stared up at the glistening tree line.

"My childhood was as bad as you might have imagined. In the morning, I was safe. Dad was at work and mom would be hungover from the night before. At school, the kids avoided me and I'd give them hell if they did otherwise. Yeah, my parents were civilians, but I was enrolled in the shinobi Academy."

Hidan raised an arm to the sunlight.

"The bruises have faded now- so have the cuts on my wrists. Fuck, if you knew the number of times I've tried to drown myself in a bathtub or stab myself with a kunai, you'd be shocked out of your goddamn mind. Well, maybe you'd be. I dunno. You're six, right? I don't know if you'd understand or not."

It was getting dark now. The sun was tickling the horizon and the stars were starting to peek out from under their night-stained blanket. Hidan finally sat up and regarded the headstone with a gentle look.

"I wanted to be a medic, you know. I wanted to save the lives of people who couldn't save themselves. I wanted to heal people who still had something to live for- who still dreamed."

He chuckled bitterly to himself and stood, adjusting the scythe slung across his back.

"Some dreams don't come true though. Fucking look at me now!" he screamed, "The fuck-up who was raped by his father every night didn't become a good man! The fuck-up who was beat by his mother didn't become a strong shinobi! The fuck-up who's teachers never believed a word he said didn't turn into a person who saved the people in this world! He turned into a maniac just as terrible as his parents!"

Hidan collapsed onto his knees.

"He turned into a person who killed innocent people by sacrificing them to a god _he knows doesn't exist,_ but insists on believing because that 'god' was the only one who ever cared." he whispered.

It was night time now and the moon was at it's peak.

"I took away other people's dreams because I know that I could never make mine come true."

His left hand raised so that it rested on the gravestone, and his right hand clasped the rosary that hung loosely around his neck.

"I believe that the dead can still dream," he murmured, "And I'll pray that you'll fulfill yours."


	14. From Me

Two years ago, the Sandaime Hokage died and the Godaime had risen into power. Tsunade was her name, and she was a strong, beautiful woman had Sakura under her tutelage. Sakura was thankful that she was able to learn under the Hokage. It greatly improved her speed, strength, stamina, and had given her the ability to heal. At fifteen years old, Sakura Haruno had become one of the most powerful jounin in the village.

She didn't feel that her achievements were shared because both Naruto and Sasuke weren't here. Kakashi stayed, though, and the two of them would have lunch together every Saturday. They had grown very close and had developed a relationship like and uncle would have with his favorite niece. During one of their outings at a quiet little tea shop on the outskirts of the market district, a thought passed through Kakashi's head.

"You've finished reading the Icha Icha series, haven't you? What did you think?"

"Well, I'd have to give you some credit, sensei. Icha Icha isn't all porn like I thought it was. The plot was actually really good! But Tactics was better than Paradise." she said. Kakashi gave her an exasperated look as he leaned over the table.

"How can you say that? Tactics was good, but Paradise had a more developed female lead."

"By more developed, I think you're talking about her cup size because the female lead in Paradise was complete bitch."

Kakashi gasped.

"She was a sweetheart!"

"She was a hoe."

He calmed himself over the injustice of his favorite character before his face became serious. There was something he needed to know because all the careful research he had put time and effort into had proved fruitless.

"Sakura..."

She looked at him.

"That day ten years ago... I didn't save you, did I?"

* * *

><p>Itachi was aware about how much his partner care for his deceased daughter. Kisame didn't talk about her much, yet he always took the time to visit her grave and put fresh flowers when the old ones grew brown and wilted. Itachi understood the pain of losing someone you loved. He killed his family and abandoned his younger brother, for Kami's sake!<p>

He was walking in the forest with really no set destination. He went on these walks often to clear his mind or to enjoy solitude for as long as he could. His feet carried him down a rocky path to a small, familiar clearing.

"... Ah. So I ended up here."

Itachi stepped off the path and sat cross-legged before the headstone. He knew that there was something special about this particular grave despite him never meeting who it was for. Most, if not all, the Akatsuki members came to this grave to voice out their thoughts or to verbally let out their pent up anger or frustrations. He scoffed silently. Itachi sat there for about an hour in meditative silence.

His peace was short lived, though, when he was shocked out of it by images of his clan's murder. Letting out a shaky sigh, he uncrossed his legs and leaned back against the bark of a tree.

"If you were actually here, I imagine you're wondering why I stopped meditating. Would you believe me if I said I just felt like opening my eyes?"

Silence. Itachi let out another sigh.

"I suppose not."

He heard directly from Deidara and Hidan that if you really let your feelings out in this particular area, you'd feel better later on. They described the feeling as having an enormous weight being lifted off their shoulders. To Itachi, there was no way for him to ever take the blood of his entire family off his shoulders. Ever.

"I'm a terrible monster." he said, "My clan has been destroyed by my own two hands. Nothing I can do will ever amount to my sin or wash away the guilt I carry with me day to day. Though I feel that there is only one way for me to be forgiven. It might not seem like much, but I deserve death. Death to its highest degree. Actually, I deserve nothing. Death is too much of an easy punishment for me."

Itachi reached into his cloak and pulled out an old photo. It was a picture of him holding a newborn baby boy.

"This is my younger brother, Sasuke. He was the only one I wasn't able to kill. I couldn't do it. The look on his face screamed betrayal and desperation, and I just couldn't bring myself to kill him. I loved him too much."

He stashed the photo back into the recesses of his cloak.

"The only way I truly believe I can atone for my wrongdoings is to have Sasuke kill me himself. I have already caused him pain and suffering the world knows he doesn't deserve. My only hope is that I can survive until that day."

This time, Itachi reached into his pocket and pulled out a transparent green medication bottle.

"A disease is killing me slowly, and one day these pills will fail me. Maybe Kami will look upon me one last time and grant me a person to heal my ailment just enough so I can finally meet my fate."

He could hear the crashing of the waves in the distance and sighed to himself.

"Sakura, was it? Although I've never met you, you remind me of Sasuke. The both of you had lost everything at such a young age even when your futures looked so bright."

Birds chirped overhead as the sun reached its highest peak. The clearing Itachi was in stayed blissfully shaded, which he was immensely thankful for. Itachi's eyes had begun to become even more sensitive to the light, and he preferred not to damage them more than he needed to.

"From the start, I knew I had no real future. I was the clan's prodigy and I was expected to act as such. My life was a painful routine of wake up, train, go to school, train, sleep. I had made no friends, as my father deemed companionship unnecessary for one such as myself. But there was a clan member named Shisui who became my only true friend, and eventually became more than that."

Itachi allowed himself to smile.

"I remember that there was a small lake that only me and him knew about. We'd meet each other at 2 o'clock precisely on the days we weren't slated for missions. I'd always bring a normal bento and he'd always bring something peculiar, like lemon bread with octopus filling or something of the sort. Every now and then, he'd bring me his homemade dango. They were oddly shaped, but I ate them anyways. Then he'd grin that wide, inviting grin that I only see him give to me."

His hand raised to his necklace as a glazed look shot over his eyes.

"He knew what I was going to do, yet he wasn't mad at me. He knew that I was going to kill him, yet he smiled at me before entrusting me with the eye he had left. I killed him for this cursed mangekyo sharingan and now I can never bring him back."

A single tear slipped down his cheek. Itachi closed his eyes and turned away from the grave as if he were ashamed to look Sakura in the eye.

"I didn't understand." he hissed, "How could he look me in the eye when he knew that the family was to be slaughtered-every last one of them? How could he look me in the eye when he knew that I was the mole in our clan meetings? How could he look me in the eye and say that he loved m-!"

He shut his mouth and stood up, taking calming breaths as he turned his back to the grave.

"... They said that if I let my feelings out, the world would be lifted off my shoulders... it didn't. It only made me remember what I tried years to forget."

* * *

><p>Sakura leaned back into her chair, giving her sensei an even stare. There was silence between them for a few, long seconds before she sighed and looked down at the table.<p>

"You didn't." she replied softly, "I was hiding from the attack. My father told me to hide in the closet, but you found me instead and mistook me for a hostage."

"Don't think I don't trust you, Sakura, I really do. Please tell me the truth- who is your father and what were you doing with those dangerous criminals?"

She lifted her head, a pained look in her eyes.

"I am the only child of Kisame Hoshigaki, and I was raised in the Akatsuki."


	15. Of Puppet Masters and Small Talk

"You... You can't be serious." Kakashi insisted before his voice plummeted down into a dead whisper, "Kisame Hoshigaki? Now isn't the time for jokes, Sakura."

She knew that he wouldn't believe a word she said, so she took out the scroll he'd always keep on her belt and held it out to him.

"Do you remember our mission in wave, sensei? The one where we encountered Zabuza Momochi?"

Kakashi nodded slowly.

"His dying words were to entrust the sword to Kisame's legacy. The only reason he spared m life was because he knew I wouldn't lie about being his ex-colleague's only relation."

As Kakashi digested this information, he stood up and gestured for Sakura to follow him. The two walked the path to the Hokage's Tower in silence, as there was only one thing on Kakashi's mind at the moment was to find out the whole story and report to Tsunade. And when Tsunade found out, they were surprised to find out that she actually _wasn't_ surprised at all.

"I suspected something off about you." she said after dismissing the ANBU around her office and soundproofing the room, "I was in ten years ago looking for a specific herb that only grew in that country when I witnessed Momochi's funeral. I stood in the shadows and watched the whole thing, even when the little pink haired girl stayed behind to take the sword from the grave. I was curious, and now I know why."

Tsunade planted both hands on her desk.

"You should have told this to us sooner, Sakura. It's not going to change anything between us, but this information is very important." she chastised. Sakura hung her head.

"I know, shishou."

Kakashi glanced at his student from the side. Tsunade sighed and turned around to gaze outside the office window.

"I'll let it slide now only because I've made some plans for you, but expect me to barrage you with questions later. Naruto and Jiraiya will be here in an hour." she informed with a small tilt to her lips. Sakura's head shot up and her eyes glimmered happily, "Once Naruto does arrive, I'm sending you two, Kakashi, and Team Gai to Sunagakure. Unfortunately, something has happened to Gaara."

* * *

><p>Sakura stood in front of an enormous boulder and slid her black gloves on. Two Akatsuki members were behind this rock, and she was part of the team sent to eradicate them and save Gaara. She hoped that whoever was behind here wasn't her father. After casting a quick appearance changing genjutsu on herself, she took a deep breath and charged at the wall.<p>

"SHANNARO!"

Team Seven, as well as Chiyo- the famed puppeteer- entered the cavern. Gaara was lying on the floor with an unfamiliar blonde man sitting on chest with a hunched wooden husk of a puppet beside them. Sakura recognized him immediately as Hiruko, the life-sized version of her doll and one of Sasori's most prized creations. The blonde one narrowed his eyes at her.

_'Odd.'_ he thought, _'I wonder why that one has a genjutsu on, yeah.'_

"You son of a bitch!" Naruto hissed, "I'm sure you need to choose a different seat before I kill you right now, bastard!"

"Eh, 'The first one to scream at you'." the blonde drawled, "I can't say that it says much about a person, but Itachi's way of describing people ain't that bad, yeah."

He then proceeded to argue with Sasori about some pointless view of art, causing Naruto to grow angrier and his eyes to glow an even deeper red. Once Sasori threatened all the backtalk out of his younger partner, the blonde created a clay bird that took Gaara into it's mouth and flew off. Naruto and Kakashi chased after him, leaving Chiyo and Sakura to take care of Sasori. She cursed inwardly- why did she have to get stuck with him?

"There won't be a problem here," Chiyo said, "If we work together, child, we can take him down. Step back."

Six kunai attached to a chakra string, but his tail shot out and blocked it.

"Hmph. Still fighting, eh, old hag? But it matters not. Both you and the brat would be perfect additions for my collection." he informed haughtily. Sakura's eye narrowed slightly as she slid into defensive form. If she recalled correctly, a good majority of his puppet collection consisted of the corpses of fair fighters. She once sat through the process of creating a puppet, and she vowed on that day that she'd never be in that position.

"He's going to be a challenge." Chiyo sighed, looking to her left, "And it will only work if you do help me. You have Tsunade-hime's strength, yes? Crush Hiruko and his true form will come out. And make sure that you don't get hit by any of his weapons; they're always doused with his special type of poison."

"I _hate_ to be kept waiting." he hissed. Both kunoichi charged towards him, dodging the thousands of senbon that were shot out of of Hiruko's mouth. Left, right, up, down- the two of them were able to dodge every single needle sent their way.

"CHA!"

Sakura made it right in front of Hiruko and smashed her fist into the puppet. A cloaked figure jumped out and landed on the other side of the cavern.

"Glad we're facing each other after twenty years?" questioned Chiyo.

"Hardly." he scoffed, "But you surprise me, Granny. You're as agile as ever, as well as this little girl, whoever she is. Would you drop that genjutsu so I can see the pretty face you might have, girl?"

She said nothing, and Sasori's shrugged.

"Oh well, I'll see your face soon enough. Back to you, hag... I see that you've attached that chakra string to Hiruko's tail in high hopes that I wouldn't notice. Unfortunately for you, I did, but I figured I'd give you that pleasure of thinking that you almost had me for a few seconds."

He pulled off the hood of his cloak and showed a face that hadn't aged for the past twenty years. To Sakura, he was the same exact man she had known all those years ago.

"Oh, what's the matter, Granny?" he taunted, mockery dripping off his tongue like velvet, "So filled with emotion that you can't speak? I suppose it's only natural."

Sasori whipped out a scroll and summoned the Sandaime Kazekage all while chuckling to himself. The Sandaime went after Sakura first, slashing at her with poison tipped blades.

* * *

><p>"It seems that you've been getting lots of visitors over these last nine years, baby girl. I'm surprised, though. I didn't think the Akatsuki had loved you as much as I did. Even the newbies came and talked! Heh, I think they would've loved you too if they had met you."<p>

Kisame placed a bouquet of calla lilies in front of his daughter's grave and sat down. He took Samehada off his back and set it down beside him, sending a quick glance to the red ribbon tied on the hilt.

"Now that I think about it... I never really told you about my past, did I? Like how I grew up? Or how I met your mom?"

The wind rustled the bushes around him.

"No? Oh, well, I think I can give you a little treat, then." he grinned. "Where do I start... How about when I was a kid? Yeah. That seems like a good place to start. I didn't come from any clan or all that mumbo jumbo. I was an only child in family with parents who were both shinobi of jounin level. I was happy, so where they. It was a simple life."

He stretched his arms overhead and let out a large sigh.

"When I was fourteen, they went out on a mission and never came back- you know, the usual situation. I mean, we loved each other but we weren't very close. I think I took it rather well. At that point in my life, I was already being sent on assassinations and such, so I was used to dealing with death. That year, I came to the decision that when I had a kid,- and I did plan on having one- I would have a better relationship with them than I had with my own family."

A smile touched his sky blue lips.

"I left the village around the time I turned sixteen and ended up in Amegakure. I easily found an apartment and settled in. The weird thing about that apartment was that I slept on the couch most of the nights... I don't know why. The bed was perfectly comfortable but I chose the couch instead." he chuckled, "Well, anyways, I was taking outside jobs and spent most of my time alone until one day someone came knocking at my door about two weeks later. When I opened the door, there was this short woman with a plate of cookies in her hands. A plate of slightly burnt white chocolate chip cookies."

His smile then turned into a full blown grin.

"I remember that day. She introduced herself as Saki Otsuka and offered me the cookies and I just stared at her for a few seconds just trying to figure out what was going on. After a few seconds, I let her in and we sat down for some tea. I didn't tell her much and only introduced myself and I spent the rest of the time she was there listening to her ramble about... well, just about everything. I don't even know how it happened, but a couple of months later, our little meet ups every now and then turned into full blown dates. And she was a civilian, to boot. After about a year and a half of dating, she stomped up to me, put her hands on her hips, and asked, 'Just when the hell are we gonna get married? I'm getting real tired of waiting, you know!' Damn, I loved how much of a fiery woman she was. It kept me on my toes."

Kisame sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I already told you about how I was asked to join the Akatsuki and all that, so I'll spare you the details. Time went on, and the eventually, you were born. I lost Saki that day, but I was lucky enough to have you. I was going through some tough times after you mom died, but you were there to make me smile. I had high hopes for you. You were going to be such a wonderful girl when you grew older..."

His expression darkened considerably as he rested his head back against the bark of a tree and gazed at the clouds above.

"It hurt to know that you died way before your time, and I couldn't be there to save you."

He sighed again.

"Kami, what I would give to see you again, baby girl..."

* * *

><p>What used to be a cavern had now been turned to nothing but <em>absolute ruin<em>. The rubble of the broken ceiling lay everywhere and the sun shone down at the scene beneath. Sakura had just crushed the Sandaime Kazekage, sending its shattered bits in every direction. Sasori narrowed his eyes.

_'I poisoned her... how can she still move? Perhaps its her strength. After all, she is still maintaining that appearance changing genjutsu. Still, that doesn't explain how the poison hasn't affected her.'_

Chiyo stared, wide eyed.

"How... How can you move?" she exclaimed, "I'm certain that the poison had entered your system!"

"I used the antidote."

"Antidote?! Where did you get that?"

Sakura pulled out a vial from her back pouch.

"Remember when I healed Kankuro and took the poison of out his system?" asked Sakura, "After I created the antidote to clear the remaining poison, I made extra and took it with me. I figured that it would be handy when facing the one who made it, and I was right."

_'She was the one who neutralized the poison... Heh, oh my. The girl had turned out to be much more interesting than I expected. The antidote to this particular poison requires an extraordinary amount of skill- even I have to read over the components very carefully. This girl really is going to make me go all out, isn't she? I might as well show her the true power of puppetry.'_

With a smirk, Sasori undid the buttons of his cloak and showed his true form- his puppet body. He extended both of his arms and shot bright, orange flames from his palms. Then came the water jets, strong enough to cut through any sort of rock. The cycle just kept on going: fire, water, fire, water, fire. When the elemental attacks finally ended, Sasori didn't give time for recovery. The metal coil in his stomach unwinded and struck her side, cutting a few centimeters deep. She took the opportunity to take hold of the coil.

Before he could charge towards Chiyo and cut her down with his blades, Sakura yanked him towards her. She had five seconds before the antidote wore off.

Four seconds. He was coming closer.

Three.

Two.

One.

"CHAAAAAAAA!"

Her fist nailed him in the stomach, causing him to fall to pieces. But it was far from over. He quickly came back together. Chiyo scowled before reluctantly reaching for a purple scroll. Sakura glanced at her from the side. That was the scroll containing her ultimate technique: Shirohigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu, her White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets.

"Only ten? How weak." Sasori mocked. He took a scroll from his back and popped open a compartment on his chest, "Yes, it's true that you used those ten to defeat an entire fortress. But with my _hundred_, I defeated an entire nation!"

Sakura took out a scroll of her own and summoned kubikiribocho- Zabuza's sword. She propped her left arm with it with the sword behind her back and spread her legs apart, causing Sasori to flinch slightly. He recognized that form as Kisame's. He shook his head and without a second thought, sent the puppets forward.

Minutes dragged on like years as the battle raged on.

Finally, it ended with Sasori's poisoned sword plunged into Sakura's abdomen. He smirked.

"Not so strong now, are we?" he taunted.

"I... wouldn't be so sure..." she coughed, blood spilling down her chin. He stared at her oddly and watched with unconcealed shock as her genjutsu faded. Realization flashed in his eyes faster than anyone could decipher as he let go of the sword and watched as the girl dropped to her knees.

"Sakura...?" he questioned unbelievingly. She tried her hardest to muster a smile.

"Hey... S-Sasori-san..."

* * *

><p>Sasori watched as Chiyo tried her best to heal Sakura's wound. Guilt swelled within him- but how was he to know? How was he to know that he was actually fighting the person his entire organization believed to be dead?!<p>

"... I'm sorry..." he whispered. Sakura looked up at him and grinned.

"You didn't... know..." she said, "... B-Besides, I should've been... more careful... ghh!"

Chiyo pulled out the sword a tad bit more as she pulsed more healing chakra into the girl. During the process, her eyes looked between her grandson and Tsunade's apprentice.

"Sakura and I are fortunate that you have ceased your attacks, but you two knowing each other has exceeded anything that I have ever imagined. And for you, Sasori, to actually be so full of remorse... my. Your relationship must've been a strong one."

Sasori didn't respond. His eyes were glued to the wound he inflicted on Sakura.

"Does Kisame know of your existence?" he asked. Sakura's wound was half way healed when she was able to stand with Chiyo's help. She shook her head.

"I... I wasn't allowed to tell him. Zetsu-san has forbidden me from doing so. I desperately want to see him again, but I suppose the time will come at... a later date. Will you be heading back now, Sasori-san?" Sakura questioned softly. He nodded. The three of them were about an arms length apart when Sakura stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Sasori's neck. He stilled at the sudden contact before relaxing and patting her back.

"I know. It's been a while, kid."

* * *

><p>From afar, Sasori watched as Sakura and Chiyo left the rubble and debris of the battle zone. Zetsu appeared beside him, watching the man with his bright yellow eyes.<p>

"Sasori-san."

"I will not say a word." the red head replied, "But Kisame deserves to know."

"If I had been allowed to tell Kisame-san, he would've known about her three years ago. _**You know the factors well, and he will find out in due time. Give it another year before everyone finds out. Sakura isn't your concern at the moment. For now, find Deidara, make sure he's fine, and report back to Leader-sama.**_ You're lucky to be alive. If you two hadn't known each other, you would've been dead by now."

Sasori exhaled.

"Understood."


	16. Omake: Sasori

_***Song is 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow'/ 'What a Wonderful World' by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole**_

"_Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. And the dreams that you dream of, once in a lullaby..._"

It was a cloudy day with a storm peeking out just in the far distance. The air was ice cold, but it didn't matter to the one sitting in front of Sakura Hoshigaki's grave. The man sitting there was wood. He didn't feel, physically nor emotionally.

"_Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. And the dreams that you dream of, dreams really do come true..._"

Half lidded eyes raised themselves to read the inscriptions on the stone.

"My mother used to sing that song for me as a lullaby. it was hard for me to fall asleep, but her voice always seemed to soothe me to my dreams. I always depended on her to sleep. It was a horrible decision, really." Sasori sighed, "When she was off on missions, I lay awake in bed until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. It was hard. I always woke up exhausted..."

He closed his eyes.

"Chiyo-baa was always there, though. Her and her cold self. She had the audacity to lie to my face until I found out the truth for myself. Tch. I _hate_ liars."

Sasori let out a drawn-out breath to calm himself and stayed silent until his anger left him.

"I once knew a boy named Komushi. He was the same age as me, but he wasn't as advanced as I was. I suppose that I could call him a friend, but he was more of an annoyance if anything. He also was a messenger to Chiyo-baa because she couldn't speak directly to me. It was the guilt of her lies that she couldn't look into my eyes. I was sure of it."

He opened his eyes and stared at the skyline. Lightning flashed, followed by the faint crackle of thunder seconds later. If he were still capable of his olfactory senses, the scent of rain would have assaulted his nose. Sasori used to love that smell. It happened so rarely in Suna that he always looked forward to the rain.

"Like the fool that he was, he lost his right arm during his border control duty. I gave him a puppet arm that had a short blade that shot out of his palm. It was a poisoned blade, but he didn't know."

Thunder crackled a second time.

"_Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind... me... Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find... me..._ Chiyo-baa tried to save him, but my poison was too potent to neutralize without the antidote. I knew. Komushi said it was an accident. Chiyo-baa said it was an accident. They all said I couldn't have known. No. I knew. I knew all along. And thus, my first human puppet was born."

The sky was a darker gray now, and the lightning strikes were more frequent.

"When you were just a baby, maybe no more than four months old, I wondered why Kisame might want to keep something like you. I mean, you were nothing but a helpless heap of flesh that did nothing but cry and stare at things stupidly. Honestly. You were useless. Then I thought of myself as a young boy with both my parents... and then I understood."

The trees around him rustled as each leaf was hit by precipitation.

"_Well I see trees of green, red roses too. I'll watch them bloom for... me and you... And I think to myself..._"

He stared upwards into the overbearing darkness with a smirk on his face. Drops of water fell onto him, quickly and evenly, thoroughly soaking his cloak. The thunder roared a third time and echoed ruthlessly in his ears.

"... _What a wonderful world._"


	17. Allies of War

_Godaime Hokage,_

_I understand that the two of us are enemies, as we have tried to capture your precious Kyuubi, but there is something brewing on the horizon that we cannot handle. I am positive that you cannot handle it either. Konoha and Suna are the only villages that harbor truly sour feelings towards Orochimaru and his followers. With our findings, it seems that Orochimaru has decided to not only attack us, but Konoha as well._

_He has prepared at least 150,000 shinobi to fight at his side, half of them having the dreaded curse mark. If you do not trust our information, find out for yourself._

_I have come up with a plan that will benefit both our sides._

_For the time being, however long it may be, I propose that my organization form a temporary alliance with your village. This risk does not seem like one to be taken likely, but both of us have run out of choices. Orochimaru has become a constant problem and it would be best if he was removed from the picture. Permanently. But what do we have to offer, you may ask?_

_We have nothing more to offer than to leave the Kyuubi be for a total of six years. We will allow him to train and grow much stronger before attempting to capture him once more. If you ask anything more of us, we are open to suggestion. We only ask that your suggestions are... within reason._

_Regards,_

_Pein_

Tsunade stared at the letter blankly before setting the paper down and staring at it like it had played some ridiculous trick on her. She then turned her head to look at the piercing covered hawk with a cloud engraved on a band around its leg. Without a doubt, this letter was from the infamous Akatsuki, but Tsunade wasn't sure about what to make of this... slightly troubling development. She sighed irritably.

* * *

><p>"The council is going to have a <em>field day<em> with this."

"Really? There were kind to you?" Kakashi asked, amazed. It took some time, but he had finally gotten around to asking a recently turned sixteen Sakura Haruno about her life before he brought her into Konoha. Sakura grinned.

"They were just like any other person, sensei. I think I made them laugh a couple of times too."

"Even Orochimaru?"

"Even Orochimaru-san."

Kakashi stared at her in wonder. Maybe he really had misjudged these people just because they had the title 'missing-nin'. Yes, they all had crimes to pay for, but perhaps he shouldn't be so quick in coming to a conclusion about their actual character. He used to call people like them monsters. From Sakura's stories, they were far from being such.

A bell tolled at the front of the shop and a black haired woman walked in. She came up to Kakashi's and Sakura's table with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sorry to bother your guys' lunch, but- Sakura-chan, we're short on staff at the hospital and we have a line of surgeries scheduled for today. Do you think you're able to come in? I know you're off today..."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Shizune! I'll help out today." Sakura answered with a genuine smile. She stood up and turned to Kakashi, "I'll see you later, sensei! Thanks for treating me to lunch, too!"

Her and Shizune were already gone when Kakashi narrowed his eyes.

Wait.

What did she mean by_ treating her to lunch_?

He got his answer when a waitress came up to him with the bill.

* * *

><p>"Boo-hoo, Deidara-chan. Want me to go over there and cheer you up? How about a tissue to wipe your stupid fucking tears?"<p>

"Why don't you go suck a dick, yeah?"

"How about the both of you_ shut the hell up_ before I come over there and_ kill_ the both of you?" Kakuzu hissed from the dining table at the Akatsuki House in Yugakure. Hidan scoffed and returned to sharpening his scythe. The Akatsuki had been called to this house for an emergency meeting. None of them knew the reason why, only that the situation was urgent. Pein and Konan appeared about half an hour later. All the heads in the room turned to them.

"Good. You're all here." Pein said, his eyes scanning over all his members, "I've come with important news. Our plans of obtaining the bijuu will be halted."

"For how long?" Kisame inquired.

"Six years."

Murmurs ran between them, and Pein raised a hand, silencing the room.

"That is part of the cost that came with making an alliance with Konoha. Before any of you open your mouths, listen to me. All of you are aware of our growing inconvenience with Orochimaru, correct? Our recent information has concluded that he has indeed gathered an extraordinary amount of shinobi and intends to attack both the Akatsuki and Konoha. After discussing things thoroughly with the Godaime Hokage and her council, we have come to the decision that the Akatsuki will be stationed in Konoha for as long as it takes to rid of Orochimaru. You leave tomorrow at 0600 hours. That is all."

Pein walked off to attend to his own business and the chatter increased in the living area.

"An alliance? That's some odd shit, seriously."

Konan walked up to Itachi and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"We also have found someone to tend to your eyes, Itachi-san. The Hokage has appointed one named Sakura Haruno to your case. Haruno-san is the head medic of Konoha Hospital and is more than qualified to help you." she informed softly. Sitting on the other end of the sofa and staring boredly at the empty space in front of him, Sasori allowed a smirk to form on his face.

_'Head medic? She's more accomplished and talented than I would have imagined.'_

His gaze slid over to Kisame who had laughed at something Deidara had said.

_'He'll be proud of her, I'm sure.'_

* * *

><p>Tsunade sat at her desk with her arms crossed. Her hazel eyes were hard as they ran over the seven people that stood in her office.<p>

"Your lodging has been organized as such- one member is assigned to live with one Konoha shinobi of my choosing. Konan is assigned to Shizune, Itachi Uchiha is assigned to Kakashi Hatake, Deidara is assigned to Rock Lee, Kakuzu is assigned to Ibiki Morino, Sasori Akasuna is assigned to Sai, Hidan is assigned to Might Gai, and Kisame Hoshigaki is assigned to Sakura Haruno. Any questions or concerns?"

When she received no answer, she continued.

"Your amount of freedom is decided by the ones responsible for you. You will meet these people later, but for now, I want you all to get started on planning for what we'll do with Orochimaru. Itachi, Deidara, and Kisame. I want the three of you to go with Shizune and a couple of my jounin to the Archives. Dig up as much as you can about Orochimaru and his techniques." ordered Tsunade. The three Akatsuki members complied easily and followed Shizune down into the Archives after being stripped of all their weapons and their cloaks.

"Now let's see... Kakuzu. Hidan. You passed a large gray building on your way here, did you not? That is the interrogation building. Head down there and ask for Ibiki Morino. He'll know what to do with the both of you."

Hidan growled slightly when his beloved three-bladed scythe was taken from him, but he was dragged away by Kakuzu before he could cause a scene. Tsunade stood up and walked out her office, motioning for the remaining two to follow her.

"Where are we headed to, Hokage-sama?" Konan questioned.

"Down to the hospital. I understand that you have poisons to examine and there is only one person that comes to mind to help you with it. Sakura Haruno, who also happens to be the person who is in charge of Hoshigaki."

As the three of them walked through the hallways of the hospital, Konan turned an interested eye to the pictures that lined the pristine walls. They were of the staff and patients alike all with bright smiles on their faces. She mused at how Konoha allowed things like this, but she supposed it added to the warm feeling that the workers here already gave. As she browsed through the pictures, her eyes caught sight of a panorama of the entire hospital staff. There were many faces she didn't recognize, but near the middle standing right beside a laughing Tsunade, was a pink haired woman with shining green eyes and a wide, bright grin.

Konan stopped walking.

"Hokage-sama... who is this person?" she murmured, pointing to the frame.

"That would be Sakura Haruno."

She continued forward. Konan shot Sasori an incredulous look as they walked side by side.

"You saw who it was, didn't you, Sasori-san? It's her, isn't it?" she questioned. Her face was blank but her eyes were filled with hope. Sasori inclined his head and answered in near silent wonder.

"Perhaps it its."

The short conversation didn't go unnoticed by Tsunade. After treading down the steps into the hospital's basement. The basement was a large space with simple cream walls and about fifteen stainless steel tables neatly put in rows of three. It held everything any lab had to offer, which included a lyophilizer, a refrigerator, a vacuum oven, an acids storage, a fume hood, gas cylinders, a rotary vacuum evaporator, a water purification system, and an impressively stocked chemical storage. One person stood in the room with her back to the entrance.

"Oi, Sakura! Konan and Sasori are here to review the poisons. I'll leave them to you."

"Ah- alright, shishou! Just give me a few seconds..." Sakura answered without turning around. Tsunade nodded to the two Akatsuki members and went back up the steps. Once Konan was sure that Tsunade was gone, she wasted no time to walk beside this 'Sakura'. She placed a hand on the pink haired woman's shoulder and gently turned her around.

Green clashed with amber, and Konan smiled.

"So it's true."

Sakura stilled as a pair of arms wrapped around her. Her own raised shakily and she returned the hug. Konan pulled away as she brushed the pink strands of hair away from the younger woman's face.

"I... think I have some explaining to do." she said sheepishly. Sasori walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It would be best if you saw the others first." he suggested. Sakura nodded, bowed clumsily to the two of them, and hurried up the steps. Nothing was said between Sasori and Konan, but their spirits had certainly been raised. Curiously, Konan turned her head to the table Sakura had been working at and scanned through the notes the girl had taken on the poisons. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"These notes... there's so much detail and everything has been examined so thoroughly. She was bright as a child but I never imagined it would go to this extent..."

As Sakura walked down the hallway, she came across Ibiki.

* * *

><p>"Ah, Haruno. I was just looking for you. I need you down at the interrogation building- a prisoner needs to be healed and his injuries are critical." he said.<p>

"I'll get to it right away, Morino-san." she chirped. She followed him down into the dank building and passed numerous iron doors until they got one near the end of the building. Sitting at the table just outside the room were Hidan and Kakuzu. Hidan had his back facing them as he polished his blood-stained scythe. Kakuzu, though, raised his eyes.

They narrowed immediately.

"Heal him just enough to keep him conscious, but don't make him strong enough to completely manifest his chakra." Ibiki ordered. Sakura nodded.

"Will do. Give me fifteen minutes and you'll be able to continue your interrogation thirty minutes after that."

She entered the room and shut the iron door behind her. Kakuzu stood up after a few seconds and entered the interrogation room himself, earning nothing more than a curious glance from Hidan. Inside, he saw the pink-haired medic sitting on a stool and healing the bloody, unconscious man strapped to a chair in the center of the room. Kakuzu leaned against the door.

"His injuries don't like like the ones that'll heal easily." he commented. The girl paused for a moment before continuing on with her work.

"They aren't too bad. My only concern are the pieces of rib that have punctured through his lungs. I can keep him alive, but using this injury to your advantage might prove fruitful." she answered. Things were quiet for a couple of minutes before she spoke up again.

"Kakuzu-san... were you the one who enforced my belief that the sound of ripping paper was actually funny?"

His eyes softened before he pushed himself off of the door, walked over, and mussed her hair.

"I don't feel obligated to answer that."

Sakura grinned and half-heartedly swatted at the hand.

"C'mon, Kakuzu-san! I don't want my hair to get messed up!" she pouted. He tousled it once more for good measure before crossing his arms. He had to admit, he was surprised to see her all grown up after all these years. Of course, she owed an explanation, but...

"Have you seen Kisame yet?" he asked. Sakura sighed and shook her head.

"I haven't had a chance to. After I heal up this guy I'm going to find him."

"He was assigned gather information in the Archives."

"Thank you, Kakuzu-san!"

After healing the prisoner and talking to Kakuzu for a while, she excused herself and hastened over to the Archives.

* * *

><p>She couldn't find him.<p>

Sakura was lying down on her sofa, her eyes trained up at the ceiling. She had gone over to the Archives after speaking with Kakuzu, but her father had apparently gone to Pein to report. She decided to bide her time by continuing to analyze poisons with Konan and Sasori, but she never found an opportune moment to go back and check. It was night time now, and she was waiting for which ever Akatsuki member she was assigned to look after. She hoped that it was someone she knew.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._

A sigh fell from her lips as she hefted herself up and padded towards the door. When she opened it, she couldn't believe her eyes.

"Yo."

"Sensei! You used the door for once!"

Kakashi pouted from under his mask.

"Maa, what's that supposed to mean? Anyways, I'm here to borrow some of your books." he said. Sakura cocked a brow.

"Oh? Violence, Strap, Pooltime, Emotion, or Dynamic?"

"Ah, I already have Icha Icha Violence and Icha Icha Pooltime. Could I get the first couple of volumes of Strap, Dynamic, and Emotion?" he asked. She went to her bookshelf, pulled out six books, and proceeded to hand them to her sensei. After a quick thought, she pulled them out of his reach.

"I'll only give you these books if you show me your face."

"That's dirty, Sakura."

She smiled cheekily. That smile soon turned into a pissed sneer as Kakashi shunshinned in her house in less than a second before reappearing on the railing outside her door, books in hand. He waved at her.

"I'll return these to you as soon as I finish reading them."

"Sensei, you piece of shit!"

He chuckled and disappeared. Sakura grumbled to herself and closed the door. Kakashi always played unfair, especially when it came to showing his face. Before she could make it back to the couch, there were another series of knocks on her door. She walked over again.

"Did you forget something, se-"

She stopped, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"P... Papa...?"


	18. Medicine

Konoha was a wonderful village.

The sun was high in the sky when he fist stepped foot through the gates and Kisame could see that the guards were rather happy despite the arrival of the Akatsuki. He was probably the only one that cared to look around in wonder. He noticed that the citizens were also bubbling with happiness and went about their business like they weren't even there. Kisame's eyes saddened a bit when he imagined the life Sakura could've had here.

She loved the sun and dry warmth, he recalled. So much so that she'd always ask him if they could train in such a place. Kisame sighed and ran a hand down his face. He had been ready to see her grow up to become a fine shinobi and had been ready to watch her make a life of her own. Absolutely nothing could have hurt him more than to know that his own child had died before him.

No. He shouldn't be thinking about things like this now.

Kisame had been silent when he was stripped of his weapons and cloak and escorted down into the Archives alongside Itachi and Deidara. To him, doing the research had been nothing but boring. He had never been one to avidly pick up a book or be the one to do written reports for his team missions. Luckily, he was the one who had been ordered to give a status report to Pein. That had given him a good half an hour from doing all that boring reading.

Hours later, he was allowed to leave and finally meet this Sakura Haruno who would be watching over him for the duration of his stay. He had to admit, it was smart of the Hokage to split the Akatsuki and keep them under the watch of separate individuals. That would decrease the chance of immediate interaction and any possible collaborative planning between the seven of them in the village. It was good to be careful, but they truthfully had nothing in store for Konoha. Really.

Kisame yawned at he walked through the hospital hallways. He actually had to get a quick check-up to make sure he didn't carry over anything from his travels that could harm the general public. As he walked down white corridors, he scanned over the pictures on the walls. Staff, staff, staff, patient, sta-

He stopped and turned around to gaze at a large, panorama staff picture. His eyes were glued to the girl standing beside the Hokage.

"The pink haired one is Sakura Haruno. She's the one who is to keep watch over you. Do you have a problem with her?"

The sound of heels tapping on the tile floor came close to Kisame before they stopped just a few feet from him.

"N... No." Kisame managed, "It's just that... she reminds me of someone."

Tsunade looked at the picture herself and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Someone you cared for?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah... I couldn't get over her after all this time. She meant so much to me then and she still means so much to me now even after she's been gone for about ten years... Ah, damn. I'm rambling again. Sorry."

Kisame took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. Tsunade stared at him for a few seconds with carefully blank eyes.

"I recently learned that Sakura had a hard time coping with things in the past." she said, "She told me that when she was six, she was knocked unconscious and taken away from her family. That family was said to have died in an explosion caused by a lightning jutsu- Limelight."

Kisame had torn his eyes away from the photo and was now staring at the Hokage with wide eyes. She returned the incredulous look with a tilted smile.

"I think you should go see her, Hoshigaki."

He turned and bolted out of the hospital.

Kisame ran down the streets, hastily avoiding to collide with civilians and shinobi alike. This, of course, had earned him a countless number of stares. But he couldn't care less about all the attention he was steering towards himself. His baby girl had been alive all these years and the only thing on his mind was seeing her now. When he was down in the Archives, he was given her address. If he had read the map of Konoha correctly, her apartment complex should be...

He skidded to a stop a minute later in front of a peach-colored nine story building. He quickly ran up the steps to the fifth floor. Three doors down the open hallway at apartment number 539, he knocked.

"Did you forget something, se-"

The door opened, and the person on the other end stopped, tears filling up in her eyes.

"P... Papa...?"

Joy overcame Kisame as he brought the girl into his arms, squeezing he tightly as she cried into his shoulder.

"I'm here, baby girl..." he whispered.

* * *

><p>It was seven o'clock at night, and Kisame and Sakura were at the dining table, talking amiably over dinner.<p>

"So you're the head medic at the hospital, eh? I'm so proud of you, baby girl." Kisame grinned. Sakura smiled back and rubbed at her puffy, red eyes. She had only managed to stop crying about thirty minutes ago, and he had arrived at least two hours ago. But what could she say? It had been ten years since she had seen her father.

"Thanks, tou-san. I'm so glad that I could finally see you after all this time, but I just want to make something clear. Um, shishou said that the Akatsuki are in Konoha because of a war against Orochimaru-san, right? What were the conditions?" she asked. Kisame took a sip of his sake' before answering.

"For one, Itachi-san's eyes'll be healed. By you, I think. The other is that we can't hunt the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki for a whole six years."

"So you won't be hunting Naruto, huh..." she murmured. A smile crossed her face as she looked down at her dinner plate. Kisame's eyebrow raised at this as he put his cup down.

"You know him?"

"Yeah he's... he's my best friend. And he's really important to me."

That made Kisame a bit guilty on the inside. Had he known that his daughter was alive, he would have never expected her to befriend one of the organization's prime targets. He reached over the table and flicked her forehead, causing her to tilt back suddenly and nearly fall off her chair.

"Wh-What was that for?!" she sputtered. Kisame laughed.

"No reason." he grinned. He laughed even harder when she started to grow red.

* * *

><p>Sakura was walking down the streets in the market district looking for some food for her and her father for the week. It had taken a while to convince him that she could do the shopping all by herself, but when she finally brought up the fact that he was 6'4" shark man with blue skin AND was a missing-nin, he relented and sat back on the couch with a sheepish look on his face. She had walked out of her apartment with a triumphant grin after that.<p>

After she finished buying some meats, she took notice that a small crowd had gathered in the middle of the street. Sakura thought nothing of it and decided that it would be best to leave as soon as possible, but when Naruto's voice flittered through the people's murmurs, she knew for a fact that she couldn't leave now. She stalked over to the crowd.

"-you better back off kid before this scythe finds it's way to your mothefucking head!"

"Bring it then you Akatsuki shit! I'll be glad to kick your ass back to the hellhole you crawled out from, 'ttebayo!"

Sakura pushed her way through the anxious citizens waiting for a fight and eventually stood staring at Hidan and Naruto whose chakras were fluctuating dangerously. Naruto get even more riled up as he spat out insults.

"You're a fucking monster!" he hissed, "You're out in the world, sacrificing all those innocent people like they never meant a damn! I bet you even killed your friends and family when they _didn't _deserveit! I bet your family loved you so much and you killed them off anyways! Shit, you deserve death rather that your so-called 'immortality'!"

Something flashed in Hidan's eyes. Something that only Sakura had managed to catch that split second. Before he could lash out in return, Sakura stepped in front of him.

"Naruto, leave him alone!"

"What? Why're you defending him, Sakura-chan?! He's a murderer!"

"As of right now, he's Konoha's ally!" she defended. She then turned to the crowd and glared at them with the intensity of a pissed Uchiha. They got the message and quickly dispersed. She looked back at Naruto, "You shouldn't have started this fight, Naruto."

"But-!"

"No buts!" she snapped. Sakura took hold of a shell-shocked Hidan's wrist and walked out of the market district. Hidan let himself be pulled, at a loss of what to do.

No one... had ever stood up from him like that before.

"Hold on just a fucking minute!" Hidan growled. He stopped walking and yanked his wrist from this _stranger's _hand and held it to himself like she had broken it. She looked up at him with confusion.

"What's up, Hidan-san? You're Hidan-san, right? Of the Akatsuki?" she asked. He started at her for a long moment, just trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with her. She obviouslly had an idea about who he was and the things he had done. If anything, she should have been on the jinchuuriki's side.

"That's me and the exact reason why you shouldn't have even done that shit. Why the fuck did you stand up for me?"

Her confusion seemed to delve further as she cocked her head to the side.

"Was I not supposed to?"

This girl was fucking insane.

"You're human after all, Hidan-san." she continued, "Even if you are an Akatsuki and an infamous missing-nin altogether, you didn't deserve those words. I saw that look in your eyes. Naruto touched on something personal, didn't he?"

Hidan's silence and his now averted gaze was the only answer she got. She smiled lightly, grabbed his hand, and continued her path down the street.

"You know, I grew up in a place full of people like you. Y'know, missing-nin." she clarified, casting him a glance to see if he was listening, "They weren't the most affectionate of people, but they tried. I loved to listen to their stories of when they were back in their villages. None of them had happy stories like I expected them to have. Their pasts were full of blood, lies, and deceit. I guess that's the harsh reality of a shinobi."

Hidan's head was down, but his ears were perked up.

"They also told me about dreams they had. One of them wanted a family, the other to have seen their parents one last time... Hidan-san, have you ever had a dream?"

_Have you ever had a dream?_

Those words rang through his ears for fifteen whole seconds.

"Once." he whispered before he could stop himself, "But it doesn't matter anymore."

The people had thinned out by this point, and the sun was setting on the horizon. Surprisingly, after a few more minutes of pure silence, Hidan spoke up.

"What about your dream?"

Sakura looked up at the darkening sky with an unsure look on her face.

"I don't really know... I never really knew actually. It would be to help people get to where they want to go. After seeing how my family was, I wanted to make them happy. They had such tragic pasts that all I wanted to do was to put a smile on their faces. I don't know about now since I haven't seen them the past decade... I guess it could also be just helping people in general. I'm a medic at the hospital too, Hidan-san. It's fun to see all the patients there smile when they get all better!" she grinned. He surveyed that grin with blank eyes.

"But not all of them survive. You didn't help them to get where they really wanted to go."

Her grinned softened as she stopped abruptly to face him.

"That may be true, but even though they're gone, I still think they'll make it. I believe that the dead can still dream. And just for you, Hidan-san, I'll pray that you'll fulfill yours."

Hidan stared at her, his breath taken out of his mouth.

_**"I wanted to be a medic, you know. I wanted to save the lives of people who couldn't save themselves. I wanted to heal people who still had something to live for- who still dreamed."**_

_**He chuckled bitterly to himself and stood, adjusting the scythe slung across his back.**_

_**"Some dreams don't come true though. Fucking look at me now!" he screamed, "The fuck-up who was raped by his father every night didn't become a good man! The fuck-up who was beat by his mother didn't become a strong shinobi! The fuck-up who's teachers never believed a word he said didn't turn into a person who saved the people in this world! He turned into a maniac just as terrible as his parents!"**_

_**Hidan collapsed onto his knees.**_

_**"He turned into a person who killed innocent people by sacrificing them to a god he knows doesn't exist, but insists on believing because that 'god' was the only one who ever cared." he whispered.**_

_**It was night time now and the moon was at it's peak.**_

_**"I took away other people's dreams because I know that I could never make mine come true."**_

_**His left hand raised so that it rested on the gravestone, and his right hand clasped the rosary that hung loosely around his neck.**_

_**"I believe that the dead can still dream," he murmured, "And I'll pray that you'll fulfill yours."**_

To Sakura's utter shock and surprise, Hidan collapsed onto his knees, a couple of tears streaming from his eyes.

"Hi-Hi-Hidan-san?!"

She crouched down to his level and looked him over worriedly, setting her grocery bags down beside her.

"Hidan-san, are you alright?! What happened?!" she exclaimed. He looked at her, his magenta irises filled with awe and disbelief.

"Sakura... Hoshigaki?"

She blinked.

* * *

><p>Hidan regained his composure sure enough and they walked to Might Gai's apartment, the place Hidan would be staying. The walk there was filled with small talk and lame jokes, but nothing was mentioned about the whole scene that occurred about thirty minutes before. He asked about Kakuzu and how the miser was before he was brought into the Akatsuki. When Sakura told him about the shenanigans with ripped paper, he actually laughed out loud, saying how he would always hold that against his stoic partner.<p>

Eventually, at Gai's doorstep, Sakura gave Hidan a warning.

"I think I should warn you about Gai-sensei. He isn't the most... sane... out of everyone." she said. Hidan shrugged.

"How bad can the bastard be? I've been partners with Kakuzu for fucking years. I can handle a little insanity, seriously."

She waved her hand around dismissively.

"Don't say I didn't warn you, then. Good luck with him, Hidan-san, you're really going to need it." she smiled. She turned around and began to leave the apartment complex.

"... Hey, Sakura?"

Said medic looked over her shoulder.

"Yes?"

"If you have the time, I dunno, could you maybe teach me how to heal? I mean, I'm not asking for a shit load, but just enough to, you know, get wounds to heal faster." he requested quietly. She gave him an even wider smile than before.

"Of course! Meet me at the hospital entrance tomorrow evening at seven and we'll start then. Don't be late!"

He watched as she left the complex, a pleased smile on his face. He then turned his attention to the door in front of him and knocked twice.

Three.

Two

One.

"AH! I see that you've come, oh man of sinister chakra! Akatsuki dweller! BUT a man of unmeasured YOUTH I'm sure! Come with me for some late night training with my YOUTHFUL student Rock Lee! I'm certain he has persuaded your blonde accomplice to participate in this youthful exercise as well! Now, LET'S GO!"

Hidan only had two words for the green beast the exploded from the door.

"Holy. Fuck."


End file.
